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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704855">Etched in Stone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallenoughtofit/pseuds/smallenoughtofit'>smallenoughtofit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Prehistoric, Breastfeeding, F/M, General rough living, Is it historical au if it's prehistory, It's prehistoric. It goes with the territory, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Nonbinary Character, Not Vegan, Not kinky sorry, References to babies and pregnancy, gender binary? I don't know her, lots of references to hunting and animal killing sorry, nonbinary characters - Freeform, references to child deaths</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:13:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,802</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallenoughtofit/pseuds/smallenoughtofit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey Niima knew three things her entire life: Her name, her mother's name, and that when her mother put her down and told her to run until it was safe she meant "survive". </p><p>Now Rey is a fully grown omega living without a herd of her own people to protect her and guide her. After leaving the comfort and begrudging safety of Unkar, the lowskull who saved her from certain death so many years ago, she sets out to find her own kind and her future. But when she meets Kylo, an alpha unlike any that anyone has ever seen, she realizes there is more to him and to the future of humanity that anyone realizes. </p><p> </p><p>This is a gift for my amazing beta and friend Heathyr, who loved this story from the get-go. I decided to work on it without her having to do all the work of beta-ing it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>84</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Ijustfellintothissendhelp, PL LOVE FEST for MyJediLife</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyJediLife/gifts">MyJediLife</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Important note: in the context of this world, there are 3 types of humanoids: Neanderthal, Homo Sapiens, and the Threefold People (a/b/o). The Threefold people have 3 biological sexes (alpha, beta, and omega) rather than the six sexes or designations (male/female alphas, betas, and omegas) you might have seen in other fics. Because betas are an equal third, they have their own pronoun set: te/tes/tem. All betas (regardless of whether or not their characters are originally men or women), their scent profile/production makes them in their own shared category.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/186083488@N06/50394783458/in/dateposted-public/">
    
  </a>
</p><p>
  <strong>Prologue</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>“Is that them?”</p><p>Rey looked up sharply as Nertu walked past her, tes spear in hand and ready to face down any challengers. It was far too early for Telu and the other usual alphas to be in this forest, so the fact that Hai had heard anything was troubling. Rey pulled her daughter, Ashiya, onto her back and stood, carefully tying her waterskin onto her belt. If need be, she could drop the basket of nuts and berries to run, but she wanted to keep the child and her waterskins intact.</p><p>“Who is it?” Rey asked, creeping forward to stand next to Nertu and looking around the forest carefully.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Nertu muttered, tes dark features weighed down with tes worry and concern. As a beta, te spent tes entire life around the omegas and children of tes clan as a guard and a protector. Te was, by far, the best. Encountering a potential threat that te couldn’t decipher one way or another was beyond grating.</p><p>“It’s probably-” Rey broke off as the wind shifted as she was battered by the scent of strange alphas. She turned on her heel, grabbing Nertu’s spear and using it to tow tem in the right direction, “There!” she shouted.</p><p>Around her, omegas and betas packed the last of the day’s foraging and hurried off into the woods. Most of the alphas they met were generally controlled and non-threatening, preferring to lurk on the outside of their routine boundaries until an omega in heat slipped away and chose to partner with one or more of them. The most obnoxious bands would split up and stage fights to try and impress omegas. The only one in their clan that this tactic worked on was Kaalin, but she had never been particularly discriminatory with her partners.</p><p>A tall, broad-shouldered alpha stepped into the circle of the clearing. Rey glanced over her shoulder to see the retreating forms of her clan sisters and siblings. Everyone but her and Nertu were clear of the roving alphas- or alpha? The strongest thing she could smell was the man before her and his scent was particularly distracting.</p><p>Probably meant she was due for a heat soon. Her sense of smell was always a bit distorted and it left her far more interested in alphas and another baby than she was otherwise. Some omegas seemed eager to have children back to back, but she’d wanted to let Ashiya grow a bit before she tried for another. Rey had always been lucky enough to encounter a heat at a time when Telu or another familiar alpha was nearby, but this man was not familiar.</p><p>He was tall and broad with dark hair that he’d tied out of his face. His skin was fair and a necklace of carved stones hung around his neck, each one painted with dark red or yellow pigment of some kind. His eyes were dark, perhaps even darker than Nertu’s, and were so dark that they reminded Rey of the mammoth they saw whenever they neared the plains beyond their preferred forest paths and grounds. Alphas usually hunted mammoth more than omegas and betas, but Rey had prepared enough to be familiar with the shade of their eyes.</p><p>When he stepped up closer to her, however, breathing in so deeply that Rey knew he could smell her, Nertu, and Ashiya, she changed her mind. Eyes liked those belonged in the head of a long-toothed cat.</p><p>“Who are you?” Nertu asked, squaring tes shoulders and staring the alpha down without any hesitation.</p><p>“The distraction,” the alpha said.</p><p>Screams erupted behind them and Rey turned on her heel, her throat tight. <em>Her sisters!</em><br/>
***</p><p>Ashiya held onto her mother’s smock as they ran into the forest, away from the food and their family. Rey raced through the trees as the laughter of the strange-smelling man followed them. Ashiya didn’t understand why her mother would run like this, but she knew there were times when the mothers would suddenly demand that they run, run as fast as they could, wherever they could, and only come out when the mothers or betas or omegas would sing out that it was safe.</p><p>It was a fun game, but this didn’t seem fun.</p><p>Ashiya buried her nose in her mother’s smock, not caring that the motion made her forehead smack into her mother’s chest repeatedly. She breathed in the comforting scent of her mother and her pack, even if there was a sour edge to it.</p><p>Rey came to a sudden stop, then looked over her shoulder. Ashiya held onto her tightly, her arms wrapped around her mother’s neck. A strange expression came over Rey’s face, like when someone ate berries that weren’t ready to be picked. Finally, after a heartbeat that Ashiya could feel against her own, Rey set Ashiya down on the grass.</p><p>“Ashiya, you have to run. Just like we taught you. Just like I taught you,” Rey cupped Ashiya’s cheek, her eyes bright and clear. Ashiya had always loved her mother’s strange pale eyes. They were unlike hers, but they reminded Ashiya of the sky on days without clouds.</p><p>“Remember your mothers, Ashiya,” Rey said. Her voice sounded so strange, like when someone was sick or had just woken up.</p><p>“Remember who you are,” Rey said, cupping the little girl’s face, “you are Ashiya Rey Niima.”</p><p>“Ashiya Rey Niima,” the little girl said.</p><p>“That’s right, my love. That’s right. Go. Remember your mothers. Always remember your mothers,” Rey said, kissing the young girl, “now run.”</p><p>Ashiya turned, remembering the rules of the game she had played since before she could remember. She broke into a run, making sure to turn slightly from the path she’d been taking, and ran as fast as she could. In the distance, she heard other noises, voices, and what sounded like the cries of an animal, but she didn’t linger on it.</p><p>Part of the game was ignoring anything besides running and the safety song.</p><p>While she ran, she repeated her name, out loud, to herself. It was no use trying to be quiet, not when she crashed through the undergrowth, but she would win by being fast, not be being quiet, “Ashiya Rey Niima.”</p><p>When she reached the edge of the forest, she kept going. She listened to see if anyone could follow her, but didn’t hear the sound of anyone else. That was good because her feet were starting to hurt. She took the grass at a fast walk, the one that the betas and omegas used whenever they were around an animal they didn’t want to fight, but couldn’t trust.</p><p>“Ashiya Rey Niima,” Rey reminded herself, over and over, as she paused to cup handfuls of water from a trickling stream. She crossed it, making sure to dip her feet in and let the cool water soothe her aching toes and heels. She put her little shoes back on and kept walking through the grass, even as it became as tall as she was.</p><p>“Ashiya Rey Niima,” She said, glancing up to see that the sky was changing colors, growing both dark and bright as she walked. Their pack liked to pick one place to rest for the night, where the betas would pick spots and watch the darkness while the children slept, but she knew that she had to keep going.</p><p>Running was the only way to win the game and her mother would be proud of her for winning the game.</p><p>“Asiya…” she could barely keep her eyes open as she finally reached a smooth, sand-stone outcropping and climbed onto it. The night had left the stone relatively cool, but the sun, which was now making its way on the other side of the sky, would warm it up soon, “Rey...” she looked over her shoulder to see the forest in the distance. Within the trees she saw a tiny trickle of smoke, which made her frown. Besides the smoke, she couldn’t see anyone she knew. There were no betas or omegas in the vast grass between her and the trees, singing the song that meant it was safe to come out, “Niima.”</p><p>“Ashiya”</p><p>After reaching the highest part of the sandstone outcropping, she realized no one, from her pack or otherwise, was following her.</p><p>“Rey”</p><p>She ran out of fingers to count the sunsets on.</p><p>“Niima”</p><p>It got harder to find water after she ran out of toes.</p><p>“Ah-” she had to keep going, away from the smoke and whatever prevented her mothers from singing their safety song, even though her body felt smaller than it ever had before. She had crossed another field and forest, managing to sleep up in trees where nobody but a few birds bothered her. She was smart, recognizing the nuts and seeds her pack had begun to show her, “Rey…”</p><p>“Rey Niima,”</p><p>The big river nearly swept her away. After that, she tried to go around water or walk over stones. She had been lucky there was a log, but she’d been wet and cold for days. Her mother would have been so angry with her for staying wet like that, since it could make her die, but she hadn’t had much of a choice.</p><p>Her mother would be so proud when she found her, singing the song that meant it was safe to come out, safe to sleep well again. She would be the best winner ever.</p><p>“Rey...Niima,”</p><p>She almost didn’t recognize the smell of food when she found it. She stumbled, exhausted and tender-footed, towards the edge of the cave. A hulking figure greeted her. He stomped forward, dressed mostly in heavy furs with a heavy, dark brow she had only seen once or twice.</p><p><em>A lowskull,</em> she thought. She had met one before when one of the omegas in her pack had gotten all hot and the lowskull had brought her back after she’d been missing for a few sunrises. Everyone hadn’t been worried, except for her, but they were awkward around the lowskull.</p><p>Her mother said it was because an alpha was supposed to bring her back, not a lowskull.</p><p>The baby that had come later that year had looked funny but had otherwise been fine. She’d always been called “little skull”, since her skull wasn’t quite as low as a lowskull’s.</p><p>“Who are you?” the lowskull demanded, crossing over to look at her, “did someone send you to disturb Unkar’s peace?”</p><p>“Rey Niima,” she whispered.</p><p>Suddenly, the stone rushed up towards her face and the world went very very dark.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Part 1: Omega - Chapter 1: Hyena</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rey Niima has spent more than ten years under what could be called the "care" of Unkar, one of the People of the Heart of the Cave. He is not kind or warm, but has kept her alive. All of this, however, might soon change.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trigger Warnings at the bottom of the chapter always</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Part 1: Omega </strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Chapter1: Hyena</strong>
</p>
<p>"Demonstrated in the pioneering work of Kalonia et al (1992), the now-extinct humanoid <em>homo sapien sapiens</em> were unlike their closely-related cousins <em>homo sapien trias</em> in that they consistently had only single births. This put a <em>homo sapien sapiens</em> in line with its smaller and more distant cousin, <em>homo sapien neanderthalus</em>. The origin of near-ubiquitous twin births in modern humans is unknown, but a prevalent theory is the rise of beta siblings, who provided an evolutionary advantage for <em>trias</em> that neither <em>sapiens</em> or <em>neanderthalus</em> possessed." - Jade, Mara. "The Genetic and Behavioral Differences Between Extinct Ancient Humans and Modern Humans." <em>The Journal of Genetic Paleontology and Anthropology</em>, vol. 14, no. 1, 2011, pp. 45-62.   </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Many winters later, Rey Niima woke up in that small cave, buried under a pile of furs she'd either butchered and tanned herself or ones she'd scavenged from Unkar for one reason or another.</p>
<p>After more than ten winters in the same cave, the land was still plentiful around them, but the lowskull had never quite taken to the little girl. She wasn't one of his own kind, but he did allow her to huddle in one of the protected alcoves in the cave he'd inhabited for more winters than he could remember. The little creature was sometimes loud and a little chattering, but she was also useful and focused.</p>
<p>	It was as if he'd decided to allow a bird to live with him.</p>
<p>	A ridiculous idea, but at least she could wield a knife and help guard his back while he slept. </p>
<p>	This morning, Rey crawled out from under her nest of fur and pulled on a skirt of hide, tying the leather straps at her left hip so it remained secure as she moved. </p>
<p>	Even after so many years, she still remembered many of the helpful things her mother had taught her, but there were certain things that she knew only by her own experience or ingenuity. </p>
<p>	The greatest advantage of being raised in Unkar's shadow wasn't the food he brought home and shared with her or any sense of companionship or warmth. Rather, it was his lack of interest in her that had given her a knack of experimentation. He had no interest in teaching manners to a flatface child. He was Unkar of the People of the Heart of the Cave and the dignity and decorum of The People was not something a little flatface child could hope to learn, so he left her to her own devices, only correcting her when she did something especially dangerous or stupid. </p>
<p>	This, in turn, gave little Rey Niima years filled with free exploration. There were many skills she didn't know, such as weaving, but by copying Unkar and from her own discoveries, she'd learned how to hunt, gather nuts, seeds, and berries. She had a much fairer knowledge of herbs than Unkar did, despite her age difference, but that was mostly due to her greatest talent: experimentation.</p>
<p>	It had started off as an accident when she'd been about to eat a berry only to notice a squirrel lying dead underneath the bush, berry juice still staining its fur. After that, Rey had learned to be more careful. She'd catch mice and rats around the cave, trapping them in hutches made of tightly woven reeds and spent years slowly feeding them different things until she could tell if they were dangerous. </p>
<p>	It was only after she'd been sure the plants wouldn't kill her that she began to learn anything about their uses. It took time, luck, and a lot of failures to finally discover what to take when her stomach hurt or what to give Unkar when his shoulders ached. </p>
<p>Doses were another thing altogether, but by the time she'd reached adulthood, she'd become adept at working with the plants, nuts, flowers, legumes, and fruit in her area. There wasn't much, since getting into the forest required a long walk along the smooth tan rocks their cave resided in, but it was enough to keep her and Unkar alive and healthy, especially if the game was scarce at one particular time or another. </p>
<p>Today, however, Rey wanted to forage as much as possible as the summer arrived in earnest. </p>
<p>	Rey looked up to see Unkar walk out of their cave to begin hunting for the day. Rey grabbed several rough-hewn leather bags and darted after him. Unkar sent a low rumble over his shoulder at her, warning her to stay out of his way. </p>
<p>Rey scurried to one side, turning to the various bushes and trees nearby. She’d been harvesting berries from those particular bushes for years. She pulled several dark berries, putting them into the bone-framed bag she’d put together to keep them from getting crushed. From there, Rey began pulling pods from some of the nearby plants, too. In a few days, she’d have to go further out, so she’d didn’t overstretch what she had here. </p>
<p>	As the morning wore on, Rey was able to collect a comfortable amount of legumes, seeds, and some leaves, all collected in her bag. She was even lucky enough to find a squirrel to bring back as well. The stupid animal had somehow run, full speed, into a tree next to her. Rey wasn't sure how it had happened, but it had hit its head. Taking advantage of the few heartbeats where it stood, dazed, Rey had smashed its head with the little club she kept with her. </p>
<p>Unkar was still gone when she returned to the cave, but Rey just put her catch on a high boulder behind her nest of furs. It wouldn't do much of a ferret or some other creature decided to tear into the cave, but they generally avoided her. </p>
<p>	Rey guessed it was Unkar's scent that kept them away. It would keep her away if she had anywhere else to go. She turned back to pick up a heavy clay jar to fill with water from the spring they were near. She hauled it back, then started to work on drying, butchering, and preserving everything she'd gotten that day. After several hours, Unkar returned empty-handed and in a sour mood.</p>
<p>	Luckily, Rey had been able to get her legumes to boil in her small clay pot and was able to grind them down into a mush that, once seasoned with some of the fat from the squirrel that was not butchered and drying, was fairly good. </p>
<p>	Wordlessly, Rey scooped some out and offered it to the hulking figure, who snorted bad-tempered, and turned away. </p>
<p>	“This is nothing, girl,” Unkar growled.</p>
<p>	“Nuts are good, too. I have some," Rey said, crossing her arms, “and bushes don’t travel in herds.” </p>
<p>	Unkar shrugged, accepting the bowl she offered, snorting dismissively. Rey said nothing. Unkar might be prone to sour moods, but he was never violent with her and he'd kept her alive. She had no pack, no family, but she had Unkar. </p>
<p>	Rey exhaled through her nose. At times like this, she was actually glad that Unkar was a lowskull, rather than like her. He couldn't smell the irritation in the way her scent soured at his reaction. There were noises he made that she couldn't and she would never have anywhere near the strength of Unkar and his kind, but her mood could be hidden from him with ease. </p>
<p>	What she'd do if she ever met one of her own kind, she didn't know.</p>
<p>	Rey ate in silence, leaning her back against the wall of the cave she and Unkar shared, watching the opening for any signs of danger. While Unkar slept further in, she grabbed a heavy pelt and ruled it over her body, still watching the doorway. As Rey ate, her sinuses were filled with the smell of the food in her mouth, rendering her sense of smell almost moot. She settled for closing her eyes and listening to the noises outside. There were the familiar sounds of the wind blowing around the curves in the stone they lived on and within, but beyond that Rey could hear the rustle of leaves. The winds must be strong if all of the trees farther down from the rocky cave system could be heard from within the cave. </p>
<p>	Small footsteps slapped against the floor of the cave to her right. She guessed a cave lizard had hidden there when the ground outside grew too hot and, now that there was still some light left but the rocks outside wouldn't be unbearably hot, the lizard had realized its mistake in choosing a cave with two apex predators in it. </p>
<p>	Rey briefly considered clubbing the lizard to cook or dry for later, but something  was bugging her. It wasn't worth putting attention on the lizard, even for a moment. She needed to figure out what exactly was making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She finished her food and took sips of water to clear her palette. Her sense of smell was more refined than Unkar's, but it was also more easily overpowered by things like food. </p>
<p>	Putting all of her food away, Rey piled her rough furs on top of her, watching the entrance to the cave carefully. She opened her eyes, peering into the growing darkness. As she laid there on her stomach, her chin resting on her hands, she listened cautiously. Underneath the general sounds of wind and leaves, she heard a low clicking sound. It was soft, almost soft she didn't even notice it, but because of her focused attention and a little luck, she did notice it. </p>
<p>	There was something else outside. </p>
<p>	Rey sat up, throwing her furs off of her, and grabbed her sling from where she always kept it next to her palette. Now that she knew what she was listening  it became much easier to hear. She stood slowly. </p>
<p>	Something outside let out a soft yip and a low moaning sound. </p>
<p>	Rey did <em>not</em> like that. She frowned, tightening her grip on her sling and listening. There was definitely something outside, making some kind of growling and lowing noise. </p>
<p>	What would make that kind of noise so close to the cave of one of the People? </p>
<p>	Sure, Unkar was mostly alone now. He’d lost most of his clan over the course of his life, so he was alone in his old age.</p>
<p>	Alone except for her.</p>
<p>	Rey Niima stepped away from her bedding, moving slowly so she didn't give herself away too early. Besides, it could be just a pack of something moving past. Few animals would be gutsy enough or desperate enough to attack them in their own cave. The only animals truly stubborn enough to take down a one of The People and another human alone were animals like badgers that were defending their burrows and nests. Even those, however, wouldn't dream of entering a cave. </p>
<p>	Rey opened her mouth and inhaled. Excitement and fear, a kind of forced patience, wafted from outside the cave. Enough was enough. </p>
<p>	“Unkar!” Rey called.</p>
<p>	Unkar sat up, grunting.</p>
<p>	“Listen,” Rey said.</p>
<p>	Unkar lifted his head, sniffing the air, and turned his ear slightly toward the opening. He frowned, standing and grabbing his club. When he did, something outside barked. </p>
<p>	More than five hyenas rushed into the caver, chattering and racing for their supplies. Rey clambered onto a bounder, grabbing rocks from nearby. Rey held tightly to her sling, watching as Unkar roared and swung his club. Rey slung stone after stone, across the cave. They had all been carefully collected from outside for months and were absolutely deadly in the hands of a master. </p>
<p>	Rey was a master. Years as an omega alone had given her sufficient motivation to practice daily. Hunting her own food, with only a little training from Unkar and none of the support that normally came with a herd of omegas and betas meant her very survival had depended on her knowing how to use a sling and what stones were best. </p>
<p>	Rey Niima was nothing if not methodical and it paid off today.</p>
<p>	One stone sailed in an arc across the cramped cave and hit a hyena in the eye one heartbeat before Unkar’s heavy club landed on its head.</p>
<p>	Its companion roared and lunged at Unkar. Rey's heart clenched and she sent another stone flying, but she was hurried and it just hit it in the ribs. The hyena turned its head and saw her, growling. Unkar threw a heaving swing with his club, breaking the creature’s back. Rey was already turning to the other two at the mouth of the cave. She wished that she had clearance to stand, but she had to settle for what she'd been given. Finally giving up on her sling, she grabbed her spear, crouching on her boulder and throwing it between the shoulder and belly of the hyena. Years of practice had taught her how the short spears moved, but she'd never thrown it in such cramped conditions.</p>
<p>	Luck was on her side as the hyena screamed, dropping under the force of the blow, despite its size. As the furious and now injured creature scrambled to its paws, Rey lifted one of her shorter spears, aiming for its throat and chest as it lunged towards her. Unkar, who had just finished grappling with the straggler, swung wide and managed to smash the hyena’s hips with a stay swing.</p>
<p>	The hyena buckled under what Rey assumed was a broken pelvis. It didn't have to suffer long, however. Rey had aimed for its throat, but falling had placed its head in the path of her spear, which Rey ended up driving through its right eye. </p>
<p>"Are you bit?" Unkar asked, hefting his club onto his shoulder and walking over.</p>
<p>	"No," Rey said. She looked down at her arms and hands just to be sure and saw no sign of injury at all, "are you?"</p>
<p>	"No." </p>
<p>	"Why are they here?" Rey said, pointing to the five dead hyenas strewn about the cave. She guessed there were more, but they must have thought better of their plan and fled.</p>
<p>	"Food. What other 'why' is there?" Unkar groused. He hefted the carcasses to the entrance of the cave, half-stacking them. They'd be butchered by the light of the moon to be dried overnight. More work would be done in the morning, but it was important to get them started before they began to attract flies, or worse, bloat. </p>
<p>	"Why would they come here for food?" Rey asked, resisting the urge to stomp her foot in frustration, "it is dangerous. We are dangerous."</p>
<p>	"They were many," Unkar countered, dragging another body to the cave entrance.</p>
<p>	"They should never have tried," Rey said. she followed Unkar across the cave, not helping with the carcasses. If she joined in with the work, he'd interpret that as some kind of agreement, even if her words continued to go against his. </p>
<p>	"They are scavengers. They look for weakness and pounce on it," Unkar said, not looking up from the next carcass.</p>
<p>	Rey walked alongside his lumbering steps. She didn't bother to try and get in his line of sight, since he'd turn away from her if he really wanted to. Besides, this dialogue was more important and more unusual than anything as simple as eye contact. She knew she wasn't one of his people, but she had picked up some of the more common habits of the People of the Cave. One was making sure to stay next to whoever you were speaking to and the other was to argue with your actions as much as your words.</p>
<p>	"What weakness?" Rey asked, gesturing to their cave, "we are strong humans. We are not many, but we are not defenseless." </p>
<p>	Unkar exhaled heavily, "we are weakness," he hesitated, "<em>I</em> am weakness."</p>
<p>	"Why?" Rey asked, walking over to crouch in front of him, making sure she's sitting in front of Unkar which forced her into Unkar's line of sight. Unkar's dark eyes locked onto hers and he met her gaze steadily. He didn't look away, then said, "I am gray. Old. They can smell." </p>
<p>	Rey lifted her nose a little, sniffing at him. He didn't smell unusual to her, but Unkar just shook his head. Rey shrugged her shoulders, then walked over to her bedding. She curled on her side, watching Unkar as he began to butcher the hyena's carcasses outside. Rey rolled away, lifting her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She closed her eyes tightly, tears welling in her eyes. She needed Unkar. </p>
<p>	Unkar was brave and strong. He wasn't kind, but had kept her alive. He had given up his own supplies even though she wasn't one of his own. She shook with tears, curling her fingers in her hair as she shuddered. Unkar wasn't one to admit weakness, ever. If he was voicing his age, then he was <em>feeling</em> it, too. </p>
<p>	Something weighty landed softly on her shoulders. She sniffed, looking over her shoulder to see Unkar's back as he walked away. She touched the heavy fur that he'd put on her. It wasn't one of her own. It was one of his. </p>
<p>	A fur from the bed of a man of the People of the Heart of the Cave.</p>
<p> 	A great gift. Rey closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the fur and closing her eyes. Unkar would never be able to love her the way he had with all the others he had lost, but this little kindness was its own kind of love. </p>
<p>****</p>
<p>"We need to leave," Rey didn't bother with any preamble when it came to Unkar. Even after winter after winter spent near him, he had no interest in any pleasantries from her. </p>
<p>"No," Unkar said, not looking up from the tanned hyena hide he was finishing. The little flatface girl would never understand. His people were the beating heart of the cave systems all over the continent and always had been. The flatfaces, both groups, lived in caves and out of them, whatever was available. They had no ties to the caves, but he did, even in his old age. When Unkar had chosen this cave, he'd known he would die here and he intended to do so. He'd buried so many others properly, but this would be his final place. Eventually, he would die under the furs or from an animal outside, but whatever happened, this would be his cave. </p>
<p>Rey looked down at Unkar, “we have to go. You say we are weak." </p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“You <em>said</em>. We go.”</p>
<p>“You go. Not me.”</p>
<p>“But you will be alone.”</p>
<p>“I have been alone much," Unkar groused, his eyes still on his work.</p>
<p>“I want you and me to be safe.”</p>
<p>“I can be safe alone.”</p>
<p>Rey stared at him. There was no way he could be safe alone. She had saved him and he had saved her, “you need me.”</p>
<p>“I need no one. Go.”</p>
<p>Rey looked away, her eyes on the cave floor. "It's not safe," Rey said, shuffling her feet. Her chin tensed and her lip pursed and twisted as she spoke, but she knew her 'little flatface tears' wouldn't help her with him, "we need help. People. To be safe."</p>
<p>"No," Unkar said again. He turned sideways and looked up at her, "this is heart," He waved one hand, his heavy furs rustling as he did so, "I am here." </p>
<p>"But it's not safe," Rey whispered. She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling exactly like the scared little child she'd been when he found her. </p>
<p>Unkar looked at her, then shook his head. He stood, towering over her, and put two large hands on her shoulders, "I am here. You are not here. Not anymore."</p>
<p>Rey whined, but as she took a breath in, she could smell something else in his usual scent. She usually wasn't close enough to tell, but now she could. There was something 'off' about his scent. His scent didn't change with his mood, so this was probably a sign of his health. </p>
<p>"You die?" Rey whispered.</p>
<p>"No," Unkar said, shaking his head and lying to her face, "but you live."  </p>
<p>“But-”</p>
<p>	“Go!” Unkar had the decency to take a step back before he bellowed at her. Rey could hear the growl in his chest, but she also heard something else: a rasp. </p>
<p>	Tears welled in her eyes, but Unkar shook his head, “it is morning. You leave and never return. Grab your things and go now.”</p>
<p>	Rey walked slowly over to her palette and belongings. She’d already been preparing to leave. The last holdout was Unkar himself. </p>
<p>Rey swallowed tightly as she lifted her bag. She almost set it down. She was so tempted to leave her heavy furs where they were and curl underneath them. She could pretend, then, that she and Unkar would be able to keep themselves safe in this cave. If she put her back down, right now, she could remove all of her belongings, go about her normal routine as if this cave hadn't turned into a trap, more or less. </p>
<p>But she couldn't.</p>
<p>
  <em>Run. Remember your mothers. Don't stop until it's safe,</em>
</p>
<p>Her mother's voice echoed in her ears suddenly. Rey was full of the memory of the song her mothers would sing when it was safe to come out from hiding. She hadn't heard it in years, since she was tiny. Rey's eyes filled with tears. She hadn't even realized that she even remembered the Safety Song, but she did. If she had babies of her own, maybe she could teach it to them.</p>
<p><em>You'd need an alpha for that,</em> Rey thought dully. She shook her head, setting aside her newfound loneliness and hefting several of her furs onto her back. The last one she took was the heavy lionskin that Unkar had put over her after the hyena attack. She glanced at the pile she had to leave behind, then dropped all her belongings. Taking rough, sharp breaths, she trembled. She couldn't leave her things. She couldn't leave Unkar. She'd be alone and being alone was dangerous.</p>
<p>
  <em>Run until you hear the safety song.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I just wanted to make my mother's proud.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Remember your mothers</em>
</p>
<p>Rey exhaled, then turned and grabbed the furs she would be leaving behind. She hauled them, grunting with the effort, over to where Unkar slept, and threw them in the center of his bedding. Unkar didn't look at her, but she saw his dark eyes close at the sound of her furs, many of which she had captured and butchered herself, landing heavily amongst his. </p>
<p>It was the closest to <em>thank you</em> either of them could handle. </p>
<p>Rey adjusted her boots, tightening the stitching on top. She'd learn to weave the tough, dry grasses down the valley, braiding and wrapping it around the sole of her feet. From there, she wrapped skins around her foot and leg, tying cords of leather from the woven slipper and up her calf. Rey checked the cords one last time, then pulled her leather bag onto her back, tying the overlarge flap shut with another leather cord. She looked at Unkar one last time as she walked past. </p>
<p>"Spear."</p>
<p>"What?" Rey turned at the mouth of the cave. </p>
<p>Unkar held out one of her shorter spears, the point in his hand. Rey held her large one on her hand and her three remaining smaller ones were tied in a bundle to the side of her pack, but she'd thought that one was broken after the attack by the hyenas. Apparently, it wasn't. Wordlessly, Rey took her spear from Unkar. The speartip was a much darker gray than the light-colored river rock it had once been. He must have repaired it when she wasn't paying attention.</p>
<p>"May your cave always be warm and your hearth always be well-guarded," Rey said slowly from the doorway. Unkar looked up sharply, his dark eyes fixed on her face for the first time in so long. It was one of the few sentences she knew in the language of the People of the Heart of the Cave, but it was the proper, formal goodbye. Over the past years, a handful of the People had stayed with them for different lengths of time. All of them had said this when they'd left. Rey had remembered, never expecting to use it. </p>
<p>Unkar lifted a fist to his chest, over his heart, and beat it twice. Rey smiled and did the same. With that last farewell, she turned and walked away.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>An animal attack is featured<br/>Animal death<br/>An adult is rather rough and distant with his ward</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 2: Wander</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rey sets out on her own and meets people, but none of her own kind.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 2: Wander</strong>
</p><p>"The earliest <em>homo sapiens</em> trias skeletons, found in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain, demonstrate a sex-segregated society. Three skeletons, all of markedly different ages, were alphas who appeared to have been either traveling together and died by accident or were killed elsewhere and buried by their pack. The most significant factor on these skeletons and the revelation that Pyrenees alphas reveal is that alpha bonding and pack behavior predates bonding glands. The urge to congregate, travel together, and raise young into fully-developed alphahood is present in these similarly-dressed skeletons and their group burials, intentional or accidental."<br/>Kenobi, Benjamin. "An Analysis of the Potential Alpha Gland Development Paths." <em>Journal of the Royal Society of Anthropology</em>, vol. 90, 1998, pp. 1-22.</p><p> </p><p>Walking up the ridge and beyond their home was even more difficult and laborious than Rey had anticipated. It was, however, necessary. If she was going to actually get away from the dangers of the valley, she first had to get out of it. Tying everything she owned in tight if heavy bundles and folds into her pack dragged at her center of gravity, but she was an adept climber and had no other choice.</p><p>At least, until she was a few feet off the ground, slipped, and fell hard on her back. Luckily, all the furs she'd tied to it cushioned both her and the more valuable tools and artifacts inside, but it also meant there was no getting up the mountain.</p><p>Rey looked from the steep cliff, to her pack, and back again. The cliff was incredibly high, but she needed to somehow get herself and all of her belongings up. Preferably, she'd like to do it in one trip. The difficulty was that her pack dragged her downward. In theory, she could try to walk around the rocky ridges, but she didn't know if that would even be possible or if there was even a better place to cross.</p><p>Chewing her lip thoughtfully, Rey opened her pack again, looking at its contents for anything she could offload. If she had to make a second trip, she'd at least put her least valuable possessions in the more vulnerable spot. Rey untied several of the extra furs, hoping she wouldn't fall now that she'd lost her padding. If only she were extra long, like a tree-person, then all she'd have to do is reach up and put her things on top of the ridge or hold them by her roots as she went.</p><p>Or if she had a poseable tail.</p><p>
  <em>Wait. </em>
</p><p>Rey reached into her bag and pulled out one of the coiled lengths of precious cord and rope that she had spent hours and hours braiding and tying. It took hours to get all the grasses and fibers in place, but it was pretty strong. It couldn't hold her weight, probably, but she'd used it to keep spearheads attached despite occasionally intense wear and tear.</p><p>Rey looked from her back to the rope, then nodded. Pulling all of the excess weight together in a tight bundle, she would the rope around it, first one way, then the opposite, making the same overlapping shape that she did with her spearheads. The rope was fairly long, although not long enough to go all the way up to the ridge's top. However, if she could get up to a higher ledge, she could pull her bag up behind her, -place it somewhere flat enough to hold it, and try again.</p><p>Tying the rope around her waist to leave her hands free, Rey began to climb.</p><p>The stone was relatively smooth, which was both a blessing and a curse. She didn't cut herself on it, even though it had lines that could have easily been places of fracturing, but it was worn smooth by time, she supposed. A little more than halfway up, the cord around her waist grew more taught. Rey huffed, trying to blow hair out of her face, but didn't stop or slow. When she reached up for the next handhold, she felt a persistent weight around her waist. Her rope had reached its length. Looking over her shoulder, she watched her bag dangle less than a hand's breadth off the ground.</p><p><em><em>Two options</em></em>Rey thought,<em><em>I drag it behind me or I pull it close and set it down</em></em></p><p>The tension in her arms and shoulders made it clear which option was better. Bracing herself against the stone wall, her feet on the flat and even outcropping below her, Rey pulled all of her worldly possessions upward with one hand, carefully making sure that nothing fell, was shaken loose, or hit the side of the stone wall. The last thing she needed was to break everything she needed to survive because she was in too much of a hurry.</p><p>If Unkar had taught her anything, it was that slow and methodical work was better than instinct-driven paths.</p><p>Finally, Rey's bag was in her hand. She set it, carefully, at her feet and reached for the next handhold again. This time, the movement was supremely easy. Dragging herself upwards again, Rey moved with careful precision, always eyeing a handhold one ahead of the one she was reaching for. The last thing she needed was to end up stuck, clinging to a wall, or have to try and climb back down and take another way. It was laborious, but not impossibly so. Even after what felt like hours of climbing, she only had to take one break, stretching her legs and hand carefully on a particularly wide shelf before climbing up again.</p><p>Finally, Rey put her hand over the top of the hill and touched a smooth, sun-warmed stone surface. Grinning, she hoisted herself over the top, then dragged her back up behind her.</p><p>Now to see what's beyond the ridge, Rey thought. She braced herself, looking around for the first time.</p><p>It was beautiful.</p><p>From the time she first came to Unkar, she'd been able to see grass along the top of the ridge and knew something green must lay beyond, but had never had any reason to go there. The forest to her west and the grasslands just south of where the cave system was had provided enough green for her. From up here, however, she realized that the grasses and trees she had grown up with were just one part of a wider range. Rey turned back to look down into what was now clearly a giant basin. When she was a child, running to safety, she must have climbed over one of the far sides where, judging even from this great of a distance, the walls of the basin were not as high. She'd scampered her way into a bowl of grasslands, spreading out far and wide. She couldn't see the forest where she'd grown up, where Mama and the other omegas and beta she'd been raised by had lived, but she knew it had to be east of here. When she looked that way, however, she only saw more of the same moss turned grass that had been hidden outside of the basin for her entire life.</p><p><em><em><em>I never knew what lay here,</em></em></em>Rey thought, stunned, <em><em><em>the world is so big, but it's been so small for me</em></em></em></p><p>As she looked around the basin, she saw distant rock formations, steep cliffs, and far beyond the sea of grass, massive rock formations that towered over the entire scene. These were the mountains she'd always seen and taken for granted in the grasslands below, but now that she saw them without trees or distractions, she understood how massive they were.</p><p>This was incredible. Rey had never felt so small and so powerful in her life. There was something about standing here, looking over it all, that stirred something in her chest. She had never seen anything like it and never would see anything else like it, no matter how long she lived.</p><p>Rey gazed at the mountains for another few moments, wondering if there were any of the People of the Heart of the Cave living there. Unkar had chosen to live in the sandstone cave that was much more accessible than what she supposed those massive mountains would be, but were his people out there, beyond him and the cave he was in? Were they a day's walk and all he had to do was pick up and leave and be safe. Rey was almost tempted to walk across the top of the basin, circumventing the forest and grasslands below, and to climb down on the other side of the river. There might be more of Unkar's people there. She could lead them to hin, She could save him from himself. He might even be grateful. He might even want her around, truly.</p><p><em><em>No, R</em></em>ey decided after another moment,<em><em> Unkar was prepared for what was coming for him. He welcomed it, almost. </em></em>He'd sent her away because he wanted her to go. This wasn't some unselfish desire to save a girl he'd cared about. He had basically ordered her to let him die on his terms. She couldn't interfere with that, not for someone so proud and so long-lived as him.</p><p>Pausing only long enough to catch her breath and readjust her supplies, Rey made herself turn away from the beauty before her and into the unknown. The rocks she had climbed up were part of a natural wall of the basin and a larger formation, from what she could tell. Tall formations, like branchless and knobbly trees stood intermingled among the sandier formations. Everything around her was rocky and quiet. The only things that she heard for days was her own breathing, the sound of her back being lifted, set down, or rustling as she moved, and her footsteps on the stone.</p><p>This time, she at least had the benefit of shoes, but she was again alone, walking to a place she didn't know about, and without any hope of aid coming from behind. She'd been lucky enough once, to find Unkar. As irascible as he was, she also served as a protector when he didn't have to. Whatever his flaws, she would not begrudge him that.</p><p> </p><p>The grasses at the edge of the sandy land were not comfortable under her shoes, but they did at least provide enough to hold real soil and rock together, which kept her from having to walk in soft sand. The sand itself wouldn't have been too uncomfortable, especially considering that it was soft underfoot, but it got into her shoes and the grains would get trapped between her and the material and rub blisters quickly.</p><p>She was lucky to learn that on the second day.</p><p>After the second day, Rey changed direction, walking into the sunset to avoid going down a path that seemed to lead to more and more arid terrain.</p><p>After the fifth day, Rey started reminding herself of her name, just like she had when she was little.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima. I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave. I am an Omega. I belong to my own people.”</p><p>The first hours alone were the hardest.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima.”</p><p>At one point, she stumbled and fell, landing heavily on her hands and knees. She almost turned back, then. She almost scurried back to Unkar with her tail between her legs, but kept pressing forward.</p><p>“ I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave.”</p><p>The only scents were those of hot air, her own sweat, and the occasional smell of decay from one small animal or another that had died and hadn’t quite been found by scavengers.</p><p>“ I am an Omega.”</p><p>The walking was exhausting, but she had to find somewhere else to be.</p><p>“I belong to my own people.”</p><p>She had to find somewhere else to belong.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima. I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave. I am an Omega. I belong to my own people.”</p><p> </p><p>She saw absolutely no one for the first seven days.</p><p>Years of learning from Unkar meant she knew how to rest in safety, how to recognize caves that were unoccupied versus those that were inhabited, but currently empty. The ground slowly began to slope up more as the miles wore on and turned greener as she went.</p><p>As the sun continued to beat down without any abatement, she began to sleep during the day and travel at night. It was more difficult, due to her decision not to carry a torch and travel by moonlight alone, but it did allow her the ability to replenish supplies as she walked.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima. I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave. I am an Omega. I belong to my own people.”</p><p>Everywhere she went, there were lizards, rodents, and water-rich prickly plants that she hunted and ate, which meant she wanted for little. Some of these meats were hung out to dry during the day while she slept and all other animals avoided the scorching sun. At night, she would put them in her pack and continue to walk.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima. I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave. I am an Omega. I belong to my own people.”</p><p> </p><p>On the seventh day, she crossed paths with another human.</p><p>She could immediately tell by their smell that they weren't her own kind. They had none of the same pheromones she still remembered from youth. When she'd first picked up the scent on the breeze, she'd wondered if they were lowskulls or another kind of flatface people. Unkar had mentioned in passing that there were two kinds. One was her own people, who kept their omegas and betas separate from their alphas, but there was another group that all lived together in small clusters, trudging after the mammoth and often crossing the mountains and the grasslands to find new territory.</p><p>From what Rey could tell, they didn't get along with the People of the Heart of the Cave very well, unlike her own kind.<br/>She was nearly greeted by a spear in the chest, had she not moved at the last moment. One of their alphas- well, no, it wasn't an alpha. He didn't smell like an alpha, although he had the same broad, flat chest that she remembered alphas having. It was different, however, and a little more difficult to tell. He wore dark furs that blended in with his dark brown skin and the dark hair on his chest and arms. His hair fell in tight coils, held away from his face by some kind of beaded fabric Rey couldn't understand. She must look so strange to him, her skin colored more like one of the People of the Heart of the Cave, but her face obviously like to one like his own people.</p><p>Rey chirped, trilling her tongue at the top of her teeth as she raised both open hands over her head, ducking down low. It was the closest to a child's noise she could make. Among her own kind, her intentions would be obvious from her scent, but this was not one of her own kind.</p><p>The flatface male before her lowered his spear only slightly, then said something she didn't understand.<br/>One of the females, a broad-shouldered one with a stark white fur wrapped under one armpit and onto the other shoulder, behind him stood up. She didn't speak immediately, but instead stepped closer to the male and tilted her head at Rey. She said something Rey couldn't understand, either, although Rey got the impression she was speaking to the male and not to Rey.</p><p>The female blinked incredibly dark brown eyes, the corners of her full mouth turning down as she inspected Rey carefully for another moment. She, too, had dark skin, but an otherwise similar face to Rey's. Rey wondered if they mistook her for one of their own, or perhaps one of the half-bred children of a lowskull and one of the flatface people.</p><p>A word from the Language of the People jumped out at her and she perked up slightly. Unkar had learned her language at some point in his youth and had used it exclusively with her, mostly because he didn't think her flatfaced mouth would do his words justice, but she was a listener and had learned many of his words throughout the years.</p><p>"Lost?"</p><p>There was the word again.</p><p>Rey thought for a moment. She wasn't really lost. She was alone because she had chosen to be, but in another way, she had been lost for most of her life. An omega without a herd was lost.</p><p>"I move" Rey answered, pointing away from their twenty-person cluster that appeared to be spending the evening in a small cave, "I move."</p><p>"Move," the male repeated finally. He pointed with his spear, but his posture belied some of his feelings. He was serious, but not aggressive. From what Rey could see in the faces of those behind him, they were too tired to expend energy dealing with a lost omega. Rey ducked her head and sprinted away without looking back for what felt like hours, whispering that same mantra as she went.</p><p>"I am Rey Niima. I am not a Woman of the Heart of the Cave. I am an Omega. I belong to my own people.”</p><p>Finally, it became too dark for her to run anymore, so she took a break, sitting against a rock and sipping from her water.</p><p>She shrugged off her pack and rested on her side, cheek pressing to the warm stone. She closed her eyes, taking deep, soothing breaths.</p><p>Rey needed a pack. She needed her people.</p><p>Rey couldn’t keep going alone for too long.</p><p>It took a little bit of effort to stand up and walk. Her body was fine, but her heart ached despite it all. She stood and began walking, this time more slowly and carefully, down the long ridge. Eventually, the stone features began to level off, revealing breaks and passes as she went. From what she could gather, her elevation was increasing slightly, but not by much. It was a gradual incline, one that let the sand slide away from her more, revealing dry, tough ground dotted by a few stubborn plants.</p><p>The plants she encountered here were unfamiliar to her, but there was still enough water in little springs or trickles among the rocks that she was never in any real danger. From what she could tell, there was water inside the stones of this ridge, traveling in places she couldn't quite see. Rey wondered if the stones were hollow, but had no way of knowing or testing for sure. She accepted every opportunity to drink freely and fill her waterskin with gratitude and didn't press further.</p><p>It took another seven nights curled up against the rocks before she encountered any other signs of humans. The rocks by now had fused back together into a high ridge with an obvious slope and actual substance. Now, Rey was less walking along a wall of boulders and more moving alongside a series of stony hills. The slope of the hills began to slip into the ground Rey herself was walking on, the sand all but disappearing before the of the hills next to them. Rey soon found herself having to climb up and down the lower foothills of what was becoming mountains in earnest. They didn't seem to be too high or too steep, but it was still something she'd have to deal with eventually. So far, the ridge was perfectly aligned with the watcher star, but Rey didn't know how long that would last. The watcher star never moved, always standing guard in the far northern sky, but Rey had to make sure she didn't lose track of it. The sun rose to her right and set to her left, but she spent more and more of her afternoons in shadow.</p><p>Having her entire left side blocked by stone was helpful. It kept her fair skin from turning too red and she was less thirsty, but it also meant that if anyone else lived tucked in the ever-growing mountains, she was in trouble.</p><p>Like on the fourteenth day, when she encountered four broad-shouldered Men of the Heart of the Cave, spears drawn, watching her. Rey should have died, but she'd noticed the small signs of habitation halfway up the mountain. There were impressions, a clear series of steps made by hundreds of feet over the seasons, all trailing up the same path. It wasn't something an animal or even another flatface might have noticed, but Rey knew the signs of the People. They had placed some rocks in the way, here and there, to disrupt the path, but the unique impressions of well-worn paths were something Rey had learned to recognize after more than ten winters living next to one of the People.</p><p>As she approached the cave, Rey did three things that saved her life:</p><p>First, she took her hyena fur, her last gift from Unkar, and draped it openly over her back and shoulder. A human of her size would have been hard-pressed to take one of them down, so it marked her as either a woman of strength or a woman who had people who would look for her if she was killed.</p><p>Second, she clapped her hands. As soon as she was in a reasonable earshot, she brought her hands together in three clear, hard bursts of sound. Sure, she was announcing her presence to any predators and disturbing any prey she might have caught, but it would also give the People a chance to get out and get a measure of her while letting their panic disperse.</p><p>Third, she greeted them in their own language. The words were a little stuttered, shouted halfway up a mountain. Distantly, Rey could hear the giggles of children who were amused by hearing the way their language was garbled in the mouth of a flatface woman, but her posture and execution were perfect. The fist over her heart, crossing her body to show she wasn't reaching for a spear, while her left hand raised in the air, fingers splayed to invoke the sun and the sky were both placed exactly right. Her dropped knee and bowed head were all exactly as one of their own would have done. She'd practiced in secret for years after the few times she'd seen women of the People greet Unkar Plutt. Her body was curled on itself, as was the posture for a woman greeting strangers, although her hand was still splayed. Women brought sun and rain, while men were the ones who moved the earth underfoot and gave substance to life for The People.</p><p>Rey heard a grunt and lifted her head to see all four of the men on top of the ridge had greeted her back, left knees to the ground, right fists planted firmly to show that the earth welcomed her. The one farthest from her extended his left arm out, his palm opened as he showed her his hand and gestured further north along the mountain range.</p><p>Not only was she not dead, but she'd been promised safe passage. She had no need to hurry. She was a welcome stranger, but not one invited into their heart.</p><p>This was more than she could hope for.</p><p>Springing up and lowering her left hand before her right, she hurried along, not wanting to press their generosity any longer than she had to.</p><p>It took hours before Rey stopped looking over her shoulder.</p><p>Until something happened that caught her attention and dragged it away from anything else. A tune drifted down the ridge to her, shocking her to a stop. Someone was singing something that she recognized. It was like the tunes her mother had taught her as a child. Rey glanced up, trying to find the source of the noise. Someone was walking and singing a quiet song overhead. She stopped until she saw the shifting shapes there, her heart tight at the sounds.<br/>It was as if she was a child again, hiding in the grass and waiting for a song that meant it was safe to stand up and run home.</p><p>For the space of a heartbeat, Rey wondered if she would be able to find whoever was singing and if her mother would be among them. She could finally go home, having proven herself worthy of the safety song. The betas and omegas that had sheltered and nursed her the first years of her life would see one of their own returned.</p><p>Distantly, even as Rey basked in the warmth of the voice, carried back to her on the wind, she knew it would never happen.</p><p>It wasn’t the same song, first of all, but it was more than that. Her herd was gone, disrupted, for some reason, by a collection of greedy alphas who had decided to plunder rather than to participate in the delicate dance that had always passed between the thirds of their species.</p><p>Or perhaps they hadn't been alphas at all. They may have just been males of the other flatface people- she wished she could remember what her people had called them- posing as alphas, using stolen furs and the trusting nature of omegas and betas and the respect alphas traditionally paid them.</p><p>Regardless, the result was the same: Rey Niima, whispering her name and running across the field with no one to follow her to sing her home.</p><p>This song wasn't calling her to the home she'd been born to, but it felt the same way. She lifted her head, looking around for the source of the song. Maybe she'd be able to pick up the scent of the singers, too, and follow it that way. She smelled something, faint and comforting higher on the ridge. Lifting her head, she realized the song was coming from a small group of betas, maybe only two or three, who were walking on top of the ridge, painstakingly making their way across the uneven surface there.</p><p>Rey chewed her lip for a moment, wondering whether to follow them or not. Betas were nurturing, she remembered, wrapping her up in furs and letting her curl up in their laps as they talked or did chores or bedded down for the night. They had always smelled so lovely, a kind of safe, milky scent that was like sleep purified into a kind of perfume.</p><p>Betas were also protective. If the ones at the top of the ridge saw her and decided she was a threat, she would die. They were territorial at best and downright bloodthirsty at worst, if Unkar's stories and her own memories were to be believed.</p><p>Rey thought. She decided to risk a potential death at the end of a beta's spear and walked after them, eyeing the ridge occasionally to make sure she was never too visible or ahead of them.</p><p>It was a painstaking walk, but eventually, the ridge broke up, leading to more forested land on the other side of a narrow pass. The betas climbed down the ridge, their song occasionally ringing out, but Rey mostly heard snatches of conversation tossed lazily over their shoulders on the wind. She let them climb down and hid in an inlet in the rock. She wouldn't try to follow them anymore, at least not directly. She'd just get seen and speared. Instead, she'd track them, following behind them. They wouldn't have to fear she was a part of an ambush that way and she could focus on the path ahead.</p><p>And how in the world she was going to convince the Matriarch to let her stay.</p><p>Rey sat down on her back, leaning into a corner of rock and crossing her arms and she thought through an impossible number of scenarios for facing the herd matriarch. There were several where she was stern and cold, some where she was kind and gentle, some where she had Rey murdered on sight, and some where she was a mix. There were some where Rey's ignorance of manners got her grudging respect and others were it got her killed. There was one possibility, tucked deep inside, close to her heart, where the matriarch turned out to be her mother, who instantly recognized her and scooped Rey into her arms.</p><p>Rey allowed herself to entertain that scenario, just this once. She could allow herself these few minutes to enjoy a world where her mother was real and here and holding her tight, still smelling of the warmth of a fire and of sweat and sweet berry juice that had stained her hands somehow.</p><p> </p><p>Rey could practically picture it behind her closed eyelids, her mother’s arms, still strong after so many years, wrapping tightly around her. She couldn't see her mother, truly, but it was enough. She was warm and comfortable and her mother was humming the safety song in her ear.</p><p>It was enough of a comfort and a reminder of what she'd lost so long ago. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd been held. It was common among the herds, from the vague impressions and how the very idea of being held like this made her heart ache with longing, but Unkar had never been tactile like this.</p><p>Her mother's hand would caress her hair, smoothing it down her back, just as she had when Rey was little. The bone combs had kept most of the leaves and debris from settling in among the long strands before it was tied away again, with leather or string wound from dried animal fibers or even braided plant fibers. Rey had barely remembered how to manage her hair while living with Unkar, who had preferred to hack his off with a knife when it got too unmanageable.</p><p>But if Rey found her mother again,. she could relearn how to do it properly, how to be beautiful.</p><p>Still-nimble hands attached to the still-strong arms ran through her hair now, soothing her like she was a baby again. Rey's heart seemed to swell within her chest, too full of love and relief to be held by her bones any longer. She had found her again. She would be okay, would be safe, surrounded by omegas and beta would could watch over her as she slept, look after her children when she found them and, if she ever had one, comfort her when she sent any alphas away to be raised by his new father, chosen from among the roaming packs that occasionally crossed paths with her.</p><p>Her mother was saying her name, now, whispering it into her ear over and over.</p><p>But she couldn't hear it.</p><p>Her mother's voice sounded like the wind, rustling through leaves, but there were no words there. The love and comfort were obvious but Rey couldn't hear her actual voice.</p><p>Rey leaned back, breaking from the hug to ask her mother to speak clearly, to repeat herself, and was met with a face as flat and blank as a stone, without feature or mouth or anything else.</p><p>Rey opened her mouth in horror. She wanted to scream, but, when she tried she realized she couldn't. Rey's hand flew to her face and made contact with the smooth, warm surface of a stone a heartbeat before the world fell into darkness.</p><p>Rey had no features either.</p><p> </p><p>Rey's eyes snapped open. She lurched back, still expecting to be greeted by the stony non-face of her mother, and immediately smacked her head on the wall of the stone alcove and winced, holding her head. She looked around, looking for light. She'd fallen asleep. Her heart immediately lurched into her throat, but the shadows had moved little. She inhaled slowly to calm herself before she started trying to track the betas again. Hefting her pack onto her back to secure it better before she started moving.</p><p>Walking through the pass, Rey took a breath, looking for any obvious scent trails or signs of a path taken. The wind came up from the path, bringing the betas' scent back to her. She looked to her left and saw a pressed-down collection of grasses and wildflowers. There were her betas. Well, not her betas . Stepping down the hill, she moved carefully after the path of the betas. Their scents was fairly thick as she walked along, watching the footprints as she walked.</p><p>The occasional bramble and thorn snagged at her bag and some of the furs on the outside of the bag. She huffed exasperated, untangling her bag from the thorns for the third time.</p><p>The trees had a strange perfume to them, almost like water.</p><p>The air around her smelled different than what she was used to. It was cooler, but almost thicker, like every breath was a little heavier. She kept walking, looking for footprints with the familiar striped impressions. It had rained a day or so ago, so the ground was soft enough to make all the footprints clear. One of the betas had a limp, so Rey followed that slightly-deeper right foot impression most. Every time she reached grass and the tracks faded, the grass that beta walked over was a little bit more trampled. As Rey walked, she noticed a lot of slightly broken twigs or other little signs of where te’d walked. It was like a tiny hello from tem, over and over.</p><p>Rey's little sightings began to make her smile in earnest, like they were small whispers, calling her along. It was like she could hear tes voice, "come along, Rey."</p><p>"This way."</p><p>"Here I am, Rey."</p><p>As she moved, the thought back to the first time she'd spent hours tracking an injured , looking for paw prints, spots of blood, and cracked plants as she moved. This felt so much easier than that. Well, the blood was easier to track, but the pressure felt less. There was no fear here, even though a group of betas who were strange was 'more dangerous: than one half-dead . But the beta's footprints felt like an invitation, rather than the frantic movements of a frightened animal.</p><p>The walk was easy and comfortable, all things considered. Rey kept one ear attuned to what was happening around her, but mostly she just enjoyed it. Rey watched the paths carefully, even as she walked along. She couldn't hear anything, but she was sure she was close. She had no idea how far behind the others she was, but she had the feeling she had to be close. The sun hard moved in earnest from when she'd tucked herself behind the rocks to wait for the pass to clear and she hadn't slept that long.</p><p>Rey's footsteps made little noise against the soft ground under her feet, but she was lucky that it was still moss-covered and few leaves had fallen on the ground. Around her, there were still flecks of pale brown that hinted at dead leaves that had fallen off this season or had somehow survived from the winter before, so she wanted to be careful. She should be able to smell or hear anyone who was near her, especially since they'd likely be more comfortable here and therefore less careful, but she wasn't going to push it.</p><p>The wind picked up suddenly, blowing through the leaves around her in earnest. With it came the smells of meat and fire, but also of a dozen different people clustered together. Rey couldn't articulate how, but it smelled of home in a way nothing had for a long time. It was like an embrace had been made into a scent and placed on the wind.</p><p>It was a herd, a real one, one of her own kind. No lowskulls or the strange scent-blind flatfaces she'd seen before. This was what she'd been looking for.</p><p>Rey followed the scent deeper along the path, slowing down even though everything in her heart told her to run headlong into what could be a family she'd been looking for since she was small. The trees slowly thinned, but they were replaced by bushes, some of them higher and more heavily-laden with berries or fruit than anything Rey had ever encountered before. She didn't even know bushes could that. Besides being a miracle unto themselves, they gave her decent cover as the sound of another tune, different from the one she'd followed earlier, danced lazily along the breeze.</p><p>The trees broke, revealing a kind of paradise that made Rey's eyes prickle, which she knew meant she'd begin to shed some of the "flatface tears" that Unkar was so unfond of. Rey swallowed thickly, ducking behind a bush and listening to the music in earnest as she tried to get the lay of the land. She was at the edge of a gentle slope, one that led down to bare ground that dipped just slightly before rising up to a cave of dark stone set into a kind deep, moss-covered rock that disappeared back into the forest.</p><p>Whoever led this herd, she had picked an absolutely perfect location. It was surrounded by thick forest on all sides with a clear view in front of the cave and guaranteed high ground if anyone got too close. Rey wanted to meet this absolute genius of a matriarch.</p><p>She'd have to, if she wanted to stay, but at the moment she'd be content with finding out who found this place originally.</p><p>Children, betas, and omegas were all settled inside the cave and outside it, chatting happily, some of them still singing that soothing and comforting song.</p><p>It was now or never.</p><p>Rey stood up, not even caring that they would be able to hear her. If she was slow and cautious, she might be able to get close enough that they could that she wasn't a threat. She stepped closer, but the wind changed, blowing down into the clearing and taking her scent towards the herd. Immediately, the singing stop and the air became thick with fearful and aggressive scents. Immediately, the two betas closest to her turned around, teeth bared, spears at the ready. Rey crouched down, braced to run. She felt utterly thrown by the sharp end to the song, even though she'd known it must be coming.</p><p>A child that had wandered close to where she'd ended up squeaked at the new smell and was immediately bowled over by a muscular young beta. Tes skin was dark, darker than any that Rey had ever seen, but she forced herself to focus on the carved wooden spear in tes hand, not tes unusual appearance. The beta bore tes teeth, crouched protectively over the child, who huddled on the ground.</p><p>Pain exploded in Rey’s chest as the smaller beta on guard stood and rushed her. Te lifted a powerful leg and kicked out. Rey grunted, falling backward and landing flat on her back. The smaller beta stepped forward, resting tes spear on Rey’s collarbone.</p><p>“Stay still,” the other beta, a serious-face beta with strong arms, said. Rey put her hands up over her head, looking from one face to the other. The smaller beta was shorter, paler, and had narrow black eyes framed with straight black hair. Te was just as strange as tes dark-skinned counterpart, albeit in an opposite way.</p><p>The taller beta, now that Rey looked between the two, was muscular, but not as aggressive.</p><p>Rey sniffed, tilting her head to see if she could smell out the matriarch. She looked into the smaller beta’s face, “what is the song?”</p><p>The shorter beta blinked, then cut tes eyes to the other one, “what?”</p><p>“The song,” Rey said, “what does it mean?”</p><p>“‘All is well’,” The tall beta said.</p><p>“Hush, Nagus,” the other one said.</p><p>“What? She’s an omega by herself-”</p><p>“You don’t know that.”</p><p>“Do you smell or see any sign of anyone else? Even she and her belongings don’t smell like anyone.”</p><p>“I am Rey Niima,” Rey said, holding up empty hands. She sat up very slowly and shrugged off her pack, even though she knew she might lose everything inside of it if she was forced to flee for her life. She needed them to understand that she wasn't a threat and getting the heavy furs and short spears away from her was a good start.</p><p>An omega with long gray hair stepped forward, frowning, “I knew Niima when I was a girl. She was already grown, then. You are too young to be hers.” Her voice was clear and authoritative. If she wasn't the matriarch, she was a well-respected omega among the herd at the very least.</p><p>“I know who my mothers are,” Rey said firmly, “Rey Niima is the only name I know.”</p><p>“I am Leia Padme Naberrie. My mother was Padme Naberrie Amidala,” The omega said. She was gray-haired and beautiful. She was dressed in a heavy wolf’s fur, her dark eyes fixed on Rey. Rey met her gaze steadily. The omega, strong-looking and authoritative, though she was far past childbearing age, blinked in surprise. Usually, when she met younger omegas and betas, they knew to look down and away out of respect.</p><p>This omega, barely more than a child, however, held her gaze.</p><p>“You hold the stare of the matriarch?” the omega said.</p><p>“Am I not supposed to?” Rey asked suddenly, cutting her gaze to the two betas from before. Her face felt hot and she suddenly wanted to improve her footing.</p><p>The betas lurched forward as Rey got to her feet and Rey snarled in return. She looked around, trying to see if there was anyone coming up behind her. She saw two coming up behind her. One was favoring tes right leg. Rey spun to face tem, meeting the warm eyes she’d been imagining since she entered the pass. The beta snapped tes jaw. Rey blinked, then remembered they hadn’t spoken before. Pain exploded in the back of her head. Her head pulled back tight as someone grabbed her hair, arching her backward. Rey squealed, scrambling for whoever was behind her. Rey broke free of their grip, but landed, hard. She immediately tried to scramble to her feet, but was forced back down. She coughed, groaning.</p><p>A shadow fell over her face and Rey looked up to see the matriarch standing over her, looking down at her seriously, "what is your name?"</p><p>"Rey Niima," Rey repeated half-desperately. Despite her fear, Rey looked up at Leia, who stared at her steadily. She was not going to blink before a child who'd held her gaze twice now.</p><p>"Where is your herd? Did they send you to us to carry a message?" Leia asked, pursing her lips.</p><p>"I have none," Rey said.</p><p>The adults around her all stiffened. Rey was sure they were looking at her with new interest now, trying to decide whether she'd been cast out or was some lone survivor.</p><p>"How long ago were you separated?" Leia asked slowly.</p><p>"Ten winters ago," Rey murmured. The words felt like hard, dry bark scratching their way up her throat, "I was small."</p><p>"Were you taken in by another herd?"</p><p>"No."</p><p>“Tell me, Rey Niima, how did you survive so long?”</p><p>“One of the People, a Man of the Heart of the Cave, took me in.”</p><p>“One of- a lowskull?”</p><p>“Yes. A lowskull. I lived in a cave with an old one. I learned everything from copying him.”</p><p>“That would explain a lot,” Leia looked at the short, narrowed-eyed beta, "it will be to you to teach her our ways. I won’t have an omega who has no manners.”</p><p>&lt;"I will not have an omega with no manners."&gt;</p><p>That sounded like she could stay.</p><p>"I need your name, your full name, however," Leia said.</p><p>"I'm only Rey Niima."</p><p>"That's as far back as you can remember?" the matriarch asked seriously, frowning.</p><p>“How far back do you know your mothers!?” Rey snapped.</p><p>“Leia Padme Naberrie Amidala Breha Organa Jobal Sabe Lesia,” Leia said calmly.</p><p>“That’s so many,” Rey said, her throat tight again, “I only know two…”</p><p>“Two mothers, as long as you know them well, are enough," Leia Padme Naberrie Amidala Breha Organa Jobal Sabe Lesia said, crouching next to her. Rey sat up, her lip trembling despite all her best efforts. Her jaw ached from trying to hold her expression still.</p><p>Rey looked at Leia Padme Naberrie Amidala, blinking rapidly. If her mother wasn’t Niima, then she didn’t know who she was. Was Rey her mother’s name? Or was Rey her name and she’d forgotten her mother’s name?</p><p>The first sob seemed to burst from somewhere behind Rey's chin, jerking against her best efforts with a physicality that made her teeth clack together. The rest followed just as indomitably. Rey curled up, forehead landing on her knees, and sobbed. Her family was gone and she hadn't even been able to remember them. What kind of omega was she? What kind of daughter was she?</p><p>Strong arms suddenly engulfed her. She shuddered, jerking against the strange grip, but Leia just grunted, clocking her tongue the way a mother would quiet a child. Rey hiccupped, leaning into her arms.</p><p>The tension around her eased along with the tension in her chest. Around her, she heard betas cooing at children disturbed into their own tears by the sight of her. Someone was rubbing her back, the smells of comfort wafting slowly from her other side. Rey shuddered but didn't recoil as she felt a warm cheek press against her back. She hadn't felt that kind of comfort in years.</p><p>When she finally cried herself out, a few moments or several days later, Rey took deep breaths and slowly leaned away from Leia, who seemed to have decided that she wasn't a threat.</p><p>Rey scrubbed at her eyes, looking at Leia’s face before she remembered and looked down. A warm hand touched her chin, lifting her head up. Rey took a deep breath, her throat tightening with emotion. Leia Padme Naberrie Amidala met her gaze steadily.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“My mother told me to run and I did. I ran and ran until it was safe, but she never came and sang the song, the "you can come out of hiding song". I eventually found Unkar, but I never saw her again. I never saw any of them again. I don’t even remember what any of them look like. When I left Unkar to find a pack, I wandered until I found you. I heard some of your betas singing and I followed them until I found you.”</p><p>Leia nodded, “you’re a lost child of the three-fold people, but now you’ve been found.”</p><p>“The Threefold people?”</p><p>“That’s who you are. That’s what we are.”</p><p>“I am an omega,” Rey said.</p><p>“Yes, I am, too. So is she. Te is a beta. And so is te. There are packs of alphas, just like the little alphas we’re here with, too. Together, we are all the threefold people. All of us. We’re unlike the lowskulls or the sunchasers. They’re only two, but we’re three. We’re stronger because we’re three. And we're stronger now because you're with us."</p><p>"I am?"</p><p>"You are. You followed the song back, didn't you?"</p><p>"I did," Rey said weakly.</p><p>She did.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 3: Heat</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Rey's tracking abilities come in handy as she finds what she's always been searching for.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Homo sapiens sapiens has not entirely disappeared from the planet, however. There were small pockets of them living well after the extinction of the Denisovans and the neanderthal. They also continue to live on through the genes that passed along to their still-living descendants. While modern humans have 2-6% neanderthal genes, all modern humans have at least 5% sapien genes, with some having up to another 5% on top of that. All living blue-eyed people, for example, share 1 common sapien ancestor who interbred with early modern humans themself or was the ancestor of a group that later interbred heavily."<br/>
Jade, Mara. "Interbreeding of Early Human Populations and Its Modern Genetic Impacts." <em>The Journal of Genetic Paleontology and Anthropology</em>, vol. 3, no. 3, 2012, pp. 20-40.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Chapter 3: Heat</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Rey had always wondered what life with a herd would be like. Part of her had imagined it would be like the warm, milk-scented memories that she’d managed to hang on to. Her more pessimistic side imagined a constant struggle for acceptance and survival. She’d assumed that it would be somewhere in the middle, like living with Unkar, but with more perceptive bedfellows. </p><p> </p><p>The reality was both none of those things and all of those things at once. For the first time in her life, she was around babies and children again. She had to listen to them wake up, sniffling and crying for comfort or a feeding every night. But she also got to see them play and run, squealing, over to greet those returning from a day of work. Rey had to work and forage, just like before, but there was conversation. Her mastery of her own language was a bit clumsy, but she improved quickly. There were so many words she’d never heard before, manners she hadn’t mastered before she left. </p><p> </p><p>Her first meeting with Leia had been the height of rudeness, for example. Polite manners said to make <em>sure</em> you were upwind of an unfamiliar pack and to purposefully make noise a distance away from where the children were. This gave betas a chance to come and greet you and vet you away from the vulnerable. The matriarch would come with them and, respectfully, you would look away when she met your eye. It was a sign of deference, unless two matriarchs were meeting. </p><p> </p><p>A lone omega barely old enough to have any children meeting the stare of a matriarch for minutes on end?</p><p> </p><p>Rey would become a morality tale told for generations. </p><p> </p><p>Which was <em>just </em>what she’d <em>always</em> hoped for. </p><p> </p><p>Her first weeks with the herd were slow and awkward. Most of the children avoided her, which hurt her more than it should. While all the omegas seemed to think of her as some kind of child-omega hybrid, which was generally humiliating but endearing, the betas seemed to think of her as either a threat lying in wait or the single funniest thing they’d ever come across. There was no in between. </p><p> </p><p>Rose, it transpired, was one of the nicest people Rey had ever met. Te was incredibly protective of the herd and the children in particular. After Rey was deemed “safe” and “welcome”, Rose accepted her with open arms. Rose and tes omea sister, Paige, were also born outside of the herd and had found a new family there. The dark-skinned beta was named Finn, another adoptee of Leia’s. Te had even taken on Leia as a mother after being orphaned. Now, the herd was stronger for it, if anyone asked Leia. She was one of the youngest and longest-reigning matriarchs anyone had heard of. Now, Rey was a part of her pack.</p><p> </p><p>Rey kept her head down mostly, but the first weeks were lonelier than she’d like. The breakthrough came without warning, like sunlight parting through clouds. </p><p> </p><p>Just as they entered the last weeks of summer, the hottest days, one of the children reached out to her. It was so simple and so wonderful all at once. Rey had been sitting outside, her hyena fur stretched across two tree limbs to give her shade as she slept outside the cave. She wasn’t the only adult who did so, but she was also the only one who really <em>had</em> to. The children would skitter away when she was too close to them, at least at night. Her strange scent marked her as an outsider, a potential threat.</p><p> </p><p>So she slept outside. </p><p> </p><p>In the early morning, she sat blearily in the still-cool shade of her fur, watching the earliest risers as they began the hustle and bustle of the day. </p><p> </p><p>A little child had toddled away from the cave entrance, trying to explore. Te was old enough to wander around without risking falling over, but still needed supervision. Luckily, te was at that age where tes need to investigate was tempered by the draw back to the safe smells of the cave and tes family. </p><p> </p><p>Rey had blinked in surprise, but hadn’t said anything as the little beta marched up to her, cooing and giggling. When te reached out for her, Rey hummed and smiled. She hadn’t tried to pick tem up, but had settled for leaning forward to sniff the top of tes tangled head in greeting.</p><p> </p><p>The beta had squealed with delight at the affection, leaning forward to settle temself in Rey’s arms. Te had clambered, clumsily but determinately, into Rey’s lap. Rey had looked down at the little beta, but hadn’t done anything more but settle her hands on her own knees, creating a protective shape for the little one. It hadn’t even been on purpose, really. It was as if the idea had appeared in her head automatically. </p><p> </p><p>The beta, a bright-eyed child of two winters, was named Kenja. Te hadn’t asked for anything more from her and seemed content to look out at the herd around them without a care in the world. Rey had just smiled, leaned forward, and rested her chin on the top of tes head to watch her new family along with them.</p><p> </p><p>When Kenja’s mother had come to fetch him for food, Kenja had whined for a moment, but Rey had merely wrapped one arm around tes waist, hoisting tem up as she stood, and gave tem a peck on one plump cheek before setting tem on tes feet again. Now that Rey had no longer been an option for a seating place, the idea of food was more attractive. As she led Kenja away, the omega had looked over her shoulder at Rey and winked.</p><p> </p><p>From then on, Rey usually slept near Finn, Kenja, Kenja’s alpha twin brother, and Kenja’s mother, in the very center of the cave. From then on, Rey was just another omega and she <em>lived</em> for it. </p><p> </p><p>After Kenja, Rey seemed to magically transform from a suspicious newcomer to a beloved and exciting member of the family. As the weeks wore on, several omegas went to go find nearby alphas to spend their heat with, which Rey found equally terrifying and fascinating. She’d spend all of her heats with plutt, curled under her blankets, and mostly suffering in silence. Now, however, there were older, experienced omegas around her, going ahead of her. </p><p> </p><p>For most of Rey’s adult life, she hadn’t noticed her heats approaching until she was in the middle. Most of the time, she had a raised libido, increased appetite, and a complete inability to keep warm. It was only after she’d met the other omegas that she’d learned about the common cramping, tender breasts, and sore muscles, to name the easiest symptoms. Now Rey was sure she’d end up with all of that on her next one, just because the Universe was cruel.</p><p> </p><p>She didn’t, though. In fact, she was again caught off-guard. </p><p> </p><p>The day of, she woke without much issue. Kenja, as te often did, greeted her immediately before te scampered off to get tes mother’s attention. The only warning she had was a general chill, even in the middle of the summer. That should have been her first warning. Heats sent omegas craving the warmth of an alpha, who Rey guessed were warmer to the touch then omegas or betas. Despite her best efforts, she was so <em>distracted</em>. </p><p> </p><p>“Are you okay?” Rose asked suddenly, looking carefully into Rey’s face. Te crouched in front of Rey, staring intently into her eyes with deep concern. Te touched Rey’s chin lightly, then blinked and nodded. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine, why?” Rey asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I think you’re going into heat,” Rose said, “your eyes are strange, like you’re about to cry.”</p><p> </p><p>“No, I’m okay,” Rey promised. </p><p> </p><p>Rose pursed tes lips, looking down at Rey doubtfully for another moment before te shrugged, “if you say so.” </p><p> </p><p>“You’ve never seen courting, have you?” rose said thoughtfully, chewing tes up.</p><p> </p><p>“No, I have,” Rey said, ears turning pink. </p><p> </p><p>“When?” Rose asked, eyes brightening.</p><p> </p><p>“Kaydel made me follow some of the omegas when they snuck off during the early summer. I’d just gotten here, but you know how Kaydel is.”</p><p> </p><p>“Like a windstorm, yeah.” Rose squatted down next to Rey, tilting tes head and resting it against tes spearshaft, “so,” te made a popping sound with tes lips, “how was it?”</p><p> </p><p>“It was fine. The alphas just mostly stood there and let them snuff around their dens or tends or bedding. They were all waiting in one area, but all the alphas that were actually chosen paired off. There was more walking than I thought there’d be.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really?”</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, because they don't all want to be on top of each other, literally, so you have this spread out area between us and where their old men were waiting, so we all paired off there, but went from there."</p><p> </p><p>"What did you do? Did you go with one, even for a little bit?" Rose asked, leaning forward, waggling tes eyebrows. </p><p> </p><p>"No," Rey said smirking, "I could have, I guess, but I didn't want to." </p><p> </p><p>"Sounds like it could be fun," Rose suggested.</p><p> </p><p>"Rose, you know well enough that it <em>is</em> fun. You've done it a dozen times," Finn shot playfully over tes shoulder from where te was inspecting some mushrooms carefully. </p><p> </p><p>"Really, you like to sneak off with the alphas sometimes?" Rey asked, raising an eyebrow at Rose.</p><p> </p><p>Rose shrugged, "the first time it was just to see that Paige was taken care of and one of the older alphas was there- don't look at me like that he wasn't like, decrepit or anything. He was just a little gray around the edges. Still had a chest like a tree trunk- anyway, he was around and smelled me. One thing led to another and I had an enjoyable afternoon before he had to go back and look after his sons and some of the old men." </p><p> </p><p>Rey clicked her tongue thoughtfully, "well, I didn't do that, but I will keep that in mind."</p><p> </p><p>Rolls in the grass weren't uncommon between different members of the herd, Rey had known. Two omegas in particular, from what they said, seemed to have only a perfunctory interest in alphas. Fyral and Donali only ever thought about alphas during heat and seemed to prefer each other. They were sweet, Rey thought, and their children were so close they might have been siblings themselves. </p><p> </p><p>Rey stood and took a few steps over to one of the bushes that had been carefully watched all season, but since all the bushes of this kind would soon rot, Leia had told Rey to clear it out. The outer edges and places where most small animals would target had been picked cleaned and eaten or dried early in the season before Rey arrived, but now Rey had to split the branches and clear the inner branches. Huffing with one particularly stubborn set of branches, she threw her hands in the air, looking down at the brush.</p><p> </p><p>"You okay?" Finn called.</p><p> </p><p>"Yes, are your mushrooms going to kill us all?" Rey shot back.</p><p> </p><p>"I don't know yet," Finn muttered thoughtfully. Rey knew if she looked back at tem right now, te'd be poking the mushrooms with a stick. </p><p> </p><p>Rey looked carefully. The branches that had given her so much trouble, now that she really <em>looked</em> at them, didn't even have any fruit on them. In fact, their leaves didn't even look like the others. Rey leaned over, drawing her knife from where she'd strapped it to her leg that morning. Out of sheer frustration, she began to saw at the darker-colored branch near where it met with one of the main centers of the bush. She twisted her hand to try to get a better vantage point and with a sharp snap, the branch under her hand gave way. Half of it split away at the joint, revealing an inner wood of a sickly brown color. Rey hummed low in her chest; she'd been right, there was something wrong with this part of the bush. </p><p> </p><p>Vindicated, Rey began to slowly drag her knife's edge along the already-exposed fibers. They broke away easily under her blade. From there, she looked from any other places where shrivelled leaves met with the main heart of the plant and began to break or cut them away. </p><p> </p><p>Time seemed to slip away from her as the carefully-chosen branches, twigs, and shoots piled up next to the bush. </p><p> </p><p>There was not a single berry on any of the pieces that Rey cut away, but clearing them allowed Rey access to some of the berries that had been left alone earlier in the season. Someone else would inspect and sort them later. All she had to worry about was collecting them. When she stepped back, the bush was free of berries and looked reminiscent of a plucked bird, but Rey was satisfied.</p><p> </p><p>"Rey, what did you do?!" Rose's voice cut through Rey's meditative silence so sharply that she jumped.</p><p> </p><p>"They were sick," Rey said, gesturing to the pile.</p><p> </p><p>"I- what?" Rose looked from Rey to the branches and trees, "the bush was sick?"</p><p> </p><p>"I don't think so," Rey said after a moment, "just those parts. I cut them away. Now the bush doesn't have to bother with them." </p><p> </p><p>"What about the berries from those parts? They'll be sick. We have to throw all of them out!" </p><p> </p><p>"Rose, those branches didn't produce any berries. I don't think they had bloomed all season. They just hadn't died enough to fall off. I just saved the plant some time."</p><p> </p><p>"I-" Rose crouched down, picking up a branch and inspection it carefully. Rey knew te was looking for some of the marks that occasionally appeared on branches when the little stems that attached the berries to them broke off. </p><p> </p><p>"You're right," Rose said finally, looking up. Te offered the branch to Rey, "you need to take this to Leia when we're done and show her."</p><p> </p><p>Rey shrugged. scratched at her arm absently. Now that she was still, it was like she could feel every place the leaves had touched her bare arms. She hadn't been scratched and there wasn't the heat of a rash or itch of a bite. It more felt like the skin of her arms had come alive from the inside. </p><p> </p><p>"Hey, you okay?" Rose asked, straightening.</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah," Rey asked easily, waving tem off and turning to the next bush. This time, she immediately set to work pulling berries from the branches. Last time, details like the quality of the leaves and the texture of certain branches under her hand had felt stark, but now they were all blurring together. </p><p> </p><p>Soft voices hummed behind her and Rey could smell concern on the air, but she didn't care. She had to focus on the task at hand. </p><p> </p><p>Berries in the basket mean food.</p><p> </p><p>Food means survival for herself. </p><p> </p><p>Food means survival for her new herd. </p><p> </p><p>The herd her own children would be born into. </p><p> </p><p>Berries in the basket mean food, so it meant she had to keep working. </p><p> </p><p>"Rey," Finn's hand on her arm felt so hot it almost burned. </p><p> </p><p>Rey winced and recoiled. She sighed and absently rubbed under one ear. She knew it was probably best if she ducked away from the rest of the group and sought out some space, but it was late in the hot season and she knew that they were behind on their foraging. Everyone else gave her a wide berth and she knew she didn’t smell like herself and would soon be attracting the attention of nearby alphas, but she wanted to take care of her herd. This herd had taken care of her and they needed to be fed and any babies she had would be born into this and kept safe by them so she needed to take care of them now to take care of her future babies- which she could have soon if she stopped working and found an alpha but if she-</p><p> </p><p>“Rey,” Finn said, suddenly crouched next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Wha?” Rey asked blearily.</p><p> </p><p>“You need to go now. It’s TIME,” Finn said soothingly. </p><p> </p><p>Rey whined high in her throat, “but there’s still-”</p><p> </p><p>“Rey, I’ll handle the berries. Go on.” </p><p> </p><p>Rey sighed, blood flooding her face, “Fine.”</p><p> </p><p>“There’s my omega,” Finn said gently, smiling down at her. Rey nodded, a little dazed, and then stood up. She looked around, unsure of what to do next. She chewed her bottom lip, looking around for any guide of guidance. Finn put tes hand on her arm again. Rey barely managed not to wince. Her skin felt like it was crawling with insects or something, but when she looked down at her skin, it was clean. The only thing touching her was Finn's far-too-hot palm.</p><p> </p><p>"Rey, I want you to go with the others," Te said, slowly and clearly.</p><p> </p><p>"The others?" Rey asked blearily.</p><p> </p><p>"Rey, Paige, and a few others are leaving right now. They're going to the alphas and you should do, too.  Rose is going to go with you. Te'll take care of you and make sure you get by okay."</p><p> </p><p>"Okay," Rey said. She nodded, but her head felt so heavy that her neck was lolling around. What was wrong with her?</p><p> </p><p>"C'mon, you're going to feel much better once you smell an alpha, I promise," Finn promised. His scorching hand was still on her, guiding her by the elbow to the edge of camp. As she walked, two small kids turned in their mother's laps, staring at her intently. They were the two youngest alphas in the whole herd, but Rey wondered if they could smell she was different and enticing, albeit in a way they couldn't understand. Or they were just wondering why a fully-grown adult was being guided around like a lost baby.</p><p> </p><p>"Hey, Paige," Finn's voice snapped Rey out of her thoughts again, "you ready to go?"</p><p> </p><p>"Yes," Paige said agitatedly, "I think someone went ahead, but we're going together."</p><p> </p><p>"You seem fine," Rey croaked.</p><p> </p><p>Paige tilted her head, "huh?"</p><p> </p><p>"I feel so strange. So cold and lost and slow but you seem fine."</p><p> </p><p>"Every heat is different," Paige said, "also, trust me, I'm cold, too. I've just had more times to practice appearing at least somewhat normal."</p><p> </p><p>Walking out of the camp was absolutely terrible.</p><p> </p><p>Rey wasn't sure WHY but while the walk itself was fairly easy, the process of walking away from her new home HURT at a physical level, even though she was equally excited about what was coming ahead.</p><p> </p><p>"What is wrong with me?" Rey thought distractedly as the group of omegas made their way towards the west. The alphas were close by, but Rey had heard about another herd that way half a day's walk away to their west. Apparently, both herds had chosen to be near the shared edge of their territory this season. Lucky for the alphas who had chosen to come here in the later summer. They could settle into the unclaimed forest and mountain space between while still being close enough to reach both groups. </p><p> </p><p>“Two omegas went ahead of us,” Paige said, “but I’ll walk with you.” </p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” Rey said. She nodded blearily as Paige put a hand through her arm, linking their elbows as they walked out of the herd’s encampment. </p><p> </p><p>“Is it always like this?” Rey whispered, looking at Paige carefully as they headed up towards the sun. </p><p> </p><p>“No,” Paige promised, “you’ll be fine, I promise. One day, it will be normal.” </p><p> </p><p>Rey nodded tiredly. The paths through the woods that they took were well-trodden. The path smelled heavily of deer and other medium-sized prey, but it was also clearer than the more disrupted paths Rey had followed to the herd originally.</p><p> </p><p>“Does everyone go this way?” Rey asked, committing it to memory.</p><p> </p><p>“Many,” Paige said, “but we’re not always camped here. My first heat was near the desert, which made it easier and harder. It was so much hotter there, so I was able to find some relief in the sun and sand, but there were also no alphas, so I was incredibly cranky for days.”</p><p> </p><p>“That sounds awful,” Rey said, “my first heat was mostly confusing.”</p><p> </p><p>“Confusing?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” Rey said, “I tried to seduce the lowskull I lived with.”</p><p> </p><p>“How did that go?”</p><p> </p><p>“He walked out of the cave and didn’t come back for two days. We never spoke about it.”</p><p> </p><p>“You lived with a lowskull? And he didn’t have sex with you?” Paige’s dark eyebrows came into a neat line.</p><p> </p><p>“He was pretty old,” Rey said, “all things considered. I know- uh- some people like that, but not me or him, apparently.”</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve been talking to Rose,” Paige said, snickering, “haven’t you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” Rey admitted, “does te do that a lot? Seek out older alphas?” </p><p> </p><p>“Not really,” Paige said, clambering over a large boulder and looking around for a place to step across a little stream as its shallowest, “but I know that alpha came sniffing around for tem more than once.”</p><p> </p><p>“What did te do?” </p><p> </p><p>“Te left camp without even tes shoes on. I tried to call after them, but te just waved me off and said te’d be fine. I didn’t see tem until the next day, but I don’t think te had any regrets,” Paige splashed across the stream in three reaching strides, but Rey managed it in two. She was vividly remembered of a moment, years ago, when she’d waited anxiously at the edge of a similar stream, exhausted from days of walking alone. She’d walked carefully so she didn’t fall, but her many steps on the cool, wet stones had been a relief.</p><p> </p><p>How far she’d come since then.</p><p> </p><p>“Do alphas do that a lot? Come back for another turn?” Rey asked, walking up a grassy hill after Paige. The sun was still at their back, which Rey guessed was helpful to keep her eyes free of glare, but it wasn’t pleasant to have the heat beating down on her neck and shoulders.</p><p> </p><p>“Not with omegas,” Paige said, shaking her head and pausing at the top of the hill for her, “it’s rude. We come to them.” </p><p> </p><p>“But it’s okay for betas? Why?” Rey asked. She stopped at the top of the hill next to Paige, then pointed to something shiny glinting at the edge of the trees near a field. </p><p> </p><p>Paige grinned, more baring her teeth in a kind of savage triumph. Now that Rey paid attention, she could smell something spicy-sweet in Paige’s scent: <em>expectation</em>. She walked determinedly and quickly down the hill, but didn’t run, “Alphas don’t have to court betas. Besides, betas aren’t drawn to their scents the way we are. They’re not courting for a heat. If an alpha is seeking a beta out, he just need to get into a beta’s line of sight. If te wants him, te’ll go over to him. If not, then he’ll get chased off by a group of betas for getting too near camp. For us, they’re going to have us for days.”</p><p> </p><p>“And we’ll end up pregnant,” Rey added. She wished Paige wouldn’t be so measured about this. She wanted to run. She wanted to sprint, legs aching and lungs burning to wherever they were going, even if she didn’t understand why. She took cues from the other omega, though, and kept the pace.</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe, yeah,” Paige said, “you excited?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Rey admitted in a low voice, “I haven’t really thought about it. Babies were never a possibility before and right now all I feel is both too cold and too hot.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, it sucks,” Paige said, laughing. She broke into a jog as they made their way over the field, which was covered in a very short and tough grass. In the back of her mind, something spoke in a tight voice, <em>why aren’t you running? You should be running. You should be sprinting</em>.</p><p> </p><p><em>Too slow,</em> the voice kept hissing.</p><p> </p><p>Rey tried her best to silence it, watching Paige's long black hair fanning out behind her as they hurried across the field. As they got closer to the wood, Rey tried to spot whatever they'd seen from the top of the hill, but she couldn't see the same bright spot. What could it have been in the first place?</p><p> </p><p><em>I should have run. It got away!</em> Rey snarled to herself.</p><p> </p><p>"It can't have 'gotten away'," Paige promised, "it's a gift, probably, not prey. Sometimes they leave something by the edge of the wood so they're easier to find." </p><p> </p><p>Rey's cheeks heated as she realized that she'd spoken out loud. All the blood rushing to her face made it almost hurt with the change in temperature, but she just tried to focus on the task ahead.</p><p> </p><p>"What are we looking for, then?" She asked.</p><p> </p><p>"If they're smart, they'll have left something that moves in the wind," Paige said, slowing her steps as they got closer and she looked further down the treeline. </p><p> </p><p>"Something like that?" Rey offered.</p><p> </p><p>Someone had tied a band of multicolored cord to a low-hanging branch of a tree a short way down the treeline.</p><p> </p><p>"I bet there's something shiny or reflective right at the edge of the shade," Paige said, "I've seen this pack do that before."</p><p> </p><p>"’This pack’?" Rey asked, leading the way this time. </p><p> </p><p>"Snoke's, I bet," Paige said, "they're clever and well-behaved if a bit unfriendly." </p><p> </p><p>"There's friendly packs?" Rey asked, wrinkling her nose. What did they do, skirt around the camp and leave berries and try to rub the shoulders of any omega who got too close? </p><p> </p><p>"Yeah," Paige said, "Cassian leads one. He's nice, very calm and collected, but his alphas always come closer. Leia sometimes even lets them all eat with us. They stay in the area for a long time. Amilyn's group likes them, too. If there's enough to go around, all of us sometimes get together."</p><p> </p><p>Rey wrinkled her nose. Why would you risk sharing resources with near-strangers for no reason?</p><p> </p><p>Then she remembered that she'd relied on that exact same impulse of Leia's for her own survival, so she probably shouldn't complain. When they finally reached the tree, Rey ran her fingers over the rope, inspecting its design thoughtfully. Someone had dyed its originally light yellowish-brown strands a mix of red, green, and a sun-bleached bone color. It didn't smell too strong of any particular alpha, but she could see there was thought put into the braiding and its maintenance. </p><p> </p><p>"C'mon, let's try to find you an alpha," Paige said, winking. She stepped into the wood. </p><p> </p><p>The alphas, which Rey could smell clearly now that she was in the midst of the plants, had carefully cleared a path in front of them, leading them deeper into the wood. Any briars, twigs, or branches had been systematically uprooted, removed, or broken and tossed away so they had an unobstructed way into the wood.</p><p> </p><p>"There's probably six or seven more paths into the wood like this," Paige said, "this is a new one. I think they cleared it completely this year. Cassian has one that's been used so much that nothing even tries to grow there. You walk along a path of moss and soft grass straight into the forest."</p><p> </p><p>"Why didn't we use that one?"</p><p> </p><p>"Snoke doesn't like it. I don't know why, but he never uses it, so there's no gifts along the way."</p><p> </p><p>Rey nodded. She remembered the objects, trinkets or food or furs, that she'd seen along the path Kaydel and the others had taken to the alphas last time. She'd been too busy keeping an eye out for alphas themselves to pay much attention, but now she felt a thrill at the idea of receiving something from an alpha. They'd probably smell amazing. </p><p> </p><p>"Come on, I can see you drooling," Paige said, rolling her eyes. Despite her dismissive tone, Rey could see the color bright in her cheeks. </p><p> </p><p>The walk deeper into the woods only brought them into stronger and stronger-smelling places. They crossed paths with multiple omegas, all walking determinedly deeper into the wood. Conversation petered out as they went. It became less and less funny how much they wanted to find an alpha. </p><p> </p><p>Turning down a cleared path in the forest, Rey realized what exactly they were being led to. She heard an exclamation as she stepped onto smooth grass between the trees, still under the shade. The alphas must have been managing the trees every time they came here for generations, there was no other explanation. Rey looked up and saw a thin string hanging down from one of the branches overhead. At the end of it was something that glinted in the light combing through the leaves. Rey watched as a straw-haired omega she didn’t know darted forward and snatched it, snapping the string in the process. </p><p> </p><p>Now that Rey LOOKED she could see various objects interspersed along the ground, thrown over three limbs, or set carefully on rocks on top of the grass. There were whole pelts or small wraps, pouches, and waterskins of various kinds, and a dizzying array of shiny trinkets made of stones, all of such color and variety that it was a little unsteadying.</p><p> </p><p>Rey walked further inside, occasionally snipping at a leather pouch with an arrowhead in it or a fur hat or some other random object, but none of them caught her attention.</p><p> </p><p>Until she saw it. </p><p> </p><p>A dark pelt was suspended, floating in the air along the smooth trunk of one of the trees in front of her. A gaggle of omegas had already seen it and were staring at it, but none dare touch it. </p><p> </p><p>What kind of alpha could make something hang in place without using string? </p><p> </p><p>A thrill ran up Rey’s spine as she moved her way past the ring of omegas that were staring at the fur. None were brave enough to touch it, which Rey was glad for.</p><p> </p><p>Whoever had put it here smelled so good it made her teeth ache. </p><p> </p><p>Rey leaned forward to sniff the heavy pelt, curling her fingers in the fabric. She leaned back, weighing whether or not to take the gift. If she took it, the alpha left it would certainly seek her out. This meant she’d at least have a chance to meet this absolutely delicious-smelling stranger. </p><p> </p><p>However, an omega of her age would probably only be allowed to take one gift, especially if another omega wanted it. If she found something better, she’d probably be out of luck.</p><p> </p><p>A snuffling noise behind her made her decision for her. Rey turned her head to see an omega even younger than her, barely older than a child, stepping out of the circle with curiosity. Rey let out a low “hmmmmm” deep in her chest, narrowing her eyes at the young one, who immediately understood and backed up into the arms of an older omega Rey didn’t know. </p><p> </p><p>At first, Rey wondered if she’d be in trouble, but the omega shook her cropped silver curls and laughed, “I guess it’s hers,” She told the group at large. </p><p> </p><p>A few laughed, all of them older than Rey, and ones closer to her age just grunted and turned back to the gifts ahead. The omega younger than her blushed deeply but ducked her head respectfully before hurrying away. Rey wondered distantly if the older omega was her mother or just a trusted figure. When she looked back at her fur, she found she didn’t care. Rey lifted it up with both hands, a little unsteady at the realization that it was a massive wolf’s pelt. This would have been a fearsome battle and yet this alpha had chosen to give up such a trophy. </p><p> </p><p>Just to catch her attention.</p><p> </p><p>Rey threw the heavy pelt over her shoulders, then stared at the tree. </p><p> </p><p>There was a knife sticking out of it. </p><p> </p><p>Rey leaned forward, brushing her fingers over the smooth wooden handle. Somehow, the alpha had used the knife to suspend the fur in place. Rey was stunned, at first, that he’d managed to find a way to do it, but now that she looked closer, she realized that he’d first taken an ax or a hatchet of some kind, and had cut a groove into the tree before jamming the knife inside. When Rey pressed on the top of the handle, the knife remained in place, but when she grabbed the handle and pulled, it came free with little effort. </p><p> </p><p>Turning the carved stone knife over, she smiled to herself. The alpha who had made this had again put extensive effort into it. The handle, rather than being stone wrapped in fabric or some kind of pitch, was wooden, whittled to a perfectly smooth surface. The blade was stone, carved, and sharpened for strength, albeit not too much sharpness. He’d taken cord and pitch to tie the two parts together and bind them effectively.</p><p> </p><p>He was a master craftsman. Turning the tool over one more time before she walked after Paige and the others, Rey decided that he’d likely be at least partially gray-haired. He’d have to be to have the skill and wisdom to work so well and think so differently. </p><p> </p><p>Rey walked further down the avenue. She saw various spearheads, strings of clay beads, leather pouches, waterskins, and lesser pelts, but had no interest in any of them. More omegas were coming behind her, so she wasn’t afraid they wouldn’t be picked up. Only particularly horrible-smelling alphas would have their gifts left behind. As Rey walked on, however, she didn’t see anything she liked. Now she had the wolf fur, she didn’t want anything else. </p><p> </p><p>The trees had gaps between then on occasion and, when Rey peeked through, she could see small dens dug into the ground, carefully reinforced with stones and wood to make them large enough for two people to sleep in. From what Rey could see of them, they were old badger dens or the like that had been expanded and hollowed out. </p><p> </p><p>Each and every one of them had a gift of some kind right in front of it and every single one of them smelled <em>heavily</em> of alpha. </p><p> </p><p>Each time Rey approached, though, there was something <em>off</em> about them. Either it didn’t smell good upon closer inspection or she’d get closer and look at the den itself and see it was poorly made. </p><p> </p><p>One time, Rey was stopped by a hand on her arm. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the same gray-haired omega who had comforted the young girl she’d growled at. </p><p> </p><p>“Not him,” the omega said. She stared at Rey with such seriousness and spoke with such authority that Rey immediately knew this must be Amilyn, the matriarch of the other herd. Rey ducked her head, assuming this alpha was a favorite of Amilyn’s, but the matriarch didn’t loosen her grip. Rey turned back to face Amilyn, but kept her eyes on the older omega’s collar, tilting her head in curiosity.</p><p> </p><p>“He is not good. Stay away from him,” Amilyn said clearly, “know his smell, but stay away.” </p><p> </p><p>Rey nodded fervently, tightening her pelt around her shoulders as if to ward off the unknown danger. </p><p> </p><p>Soon, the path opened up to a large clearing that was full of people. The space was full of logs turned into places to sit or lean on, all occupied by older alphas who seemed to be presiding over the events with interest. This pack had alphas of all ages, but their clearing had more than two dozen omegas and even a handful of betas milling around, greeting each other, talking, and sniffing. Beyond the cleared trees, Rey could see a few dens nearby, old animal holes that had been expanded and cleaned to serve an alpha for a season. She could also see tent-like structures formed from furs pulled taut between trees and then to the ground. One of the other omegas was particularly drawn to those, stepping aside to inspect the knotwork intently. Rey lifted her head, breathing deeply. One of the alphas nearby smelled so good. She looked around, trying to find who it was. </p><p> </p><p>             As Rey turned, she looked over a bonfire being overseen by a pair of alphas too young to be of any interest to the omegas. They were intently focused on the task at hand, feeding twigs into the fire. Rey was torn between trying to get close to the alphas nearby and trying to get warmer. It was too cold out here. She knew it was because of her heat. Her body was making her colder, driving her towards the heat-radiating alphas one way or another. </p><p> </p><p>Rey gripped the wolf’s pelt tightly, glad for the weight and the warmth as she meandered around. Those who had arrived first were already pairing off. She saw Paige slowly circle a broad-shouldered alpha with dark hair and a silver-speckled beard. He stood still as she inspected him carefully, then nodded her acceptance. Only then did he take her hand, leading her back towards one of the more distant tents. </p><p> </p><p>The handful of tents closest to the clearing were filling up, but only, Rey thought, from sheer convenience. None of the omegas seemed exactly excited but were more focused on getting warmth and comfort and an end to the near-painful longing. </p><p> </p><p>Other, more discerning ones were waiting, walking farther out to the dens in the distance. </p><p> </p><p>Still others were walking directly up to an alpha waiting by himself, rather than by a den or a tent. Those were probably the owners of whoever they had already passed. </p><p> </p><p>Or even those who had gotten a cave in the mountains. </p><p> </p><p>Finn had said some alphas worked in pairs, one guarding a cave while his partner led the omega back there. Rey had little interest in being passed between alphas for three days, but she could see the utility; She’d never be unguarded and the alphas would actually have a chance to sleep. </p><p>One alpha with hair the color of sand waited against a tree. Rey walked closer to him, expecting that he’d be old enough, barely, to be the one who left her the wolf pelt. He was staring at her with such focus that she assumed that he must have recognized it. </p><p> </p><p>Rey meant to say something when she got close, but her words failed, instead, she settled for trying to confirm he was the one that she wanted so badly. </p><p> </p><p>Rey closed her eyes, leaning to smell the sandy-haired alpha, but leaned away after a moment. He wasn’t the one Amilyn had warned her about, but he wasn’t the one she wanted. She smiled sadly, but the alpha just shrugged and accepted the rejection with grace and patience. Rey turned away to try and see anyone else. She felt antsy and hot, now. The skin on her arms felt like it was crawling again, but she could still focus at least somewhat. She had a quarry. She had a task to focus on.</p><p> </p><p>Ahead of her was another group of alphas, waiting patiently by the bonfire and watching the two young ones work. When she stepped closer, they turned to look at her. One in particular, who had a crooked nose and hair that had been cut short with a blade of some kind, watched her face hungrily. When she got close, Rey realized that this was the alpha she’d smelled before. </p><p> </p><p>Trying not to display any alarm, Rey looked between the five or six alphas before her, thoughtful. Her scent was more  distracting to them than their muddles scents were to her, but she couldn’t let them think she was waiting for some display. Kaydel had told her they’d fight among each other if that meant she’d choose one of them. Alphas of the same pack would take it easy on each other, just to perform in front of an omega, but she didn’t want to watch any of that unfold.</p><p> </p><p>Rey didn’t like any of them, anyway. There was something ELSE missing. Then, she found it. She found whatever IT was in the eyes of a particularly dark-haired alpha who was crouched over a white-haired alpha who’d been propped against a tree. She made one last glance around the clearing, but when she looked back, that alpha that was staring at her, leaning back against a tree. She knew, even across the clearing, that he’d been the one to leave the fur. Accepting a gift wasn’t binding, but it was a good sign. She crossed over to him, not even bothering to look at any of the others.</p><p> </p><p>She didn’t want them now, even if this one turned her down. </p><p> </p><p>The alpha in front of her was tall with a long-thin scar cutting across his face, narrowly missing his eyes. She felt his gaze for a moment before she noticed the skin around his eyes soften, just a little. She glanced around, then realized he was leaning against a tree, but he didn’t have a den or tent nearby. That wasn’t uncommon, but usually omegas were guided past the more distant ones so they’d recognize the scent of the owner.</p><p> </p><p>“Trying to attract omegas without even a fire?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m in a cave.”</p><p> </p><p>“You left it unguarded?”</p><p> </p><p>“No one would dare disturb it.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Oh, here was one of the dominant alphas, then.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Do you want to show me?” Rey asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Very much.”</p><p> </p><p>“Follow me, then,” the alpha slid his hand into hers, slowly leading her past all of the dens and tents and towards the mountains.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m Rey,” she said finally.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m Kylo.” His voice was deep and warm and made her head swim a little, “did you like my knife, too?”</p><p> </p><p>“It was brilliant, all of it,” Rey said, “who taught you the trick with the tree?”</p><p> </p><p>“No one,” Kylo said simply. His hand was so warm that it seemed to soothe her entire arm. “I just wanted to find a way to do that, so I did.”</p><p> </p><p><em>He’s smart, too,</em> Rey thought half-dazed. She didn’t really gain her full bearings until they reached the cave, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He seemed to be watching her, even if he didn’t press her for more information. </p><p> </p><p>When they got to the cave itself, Rey immediately knew she wasn’t going anywhere else. He didn’t realize she’d been hoping to find him since she arrived, but between the fur, the knife, his gorgeous face, his scent, <em>and</em> the situation in his cave, no one else stood a chance. </p><p> </p><p>Rey’s three favorite things about Kylo’s cave were: that it was well-stocked with food, that it was far from anyone else,  and that it smelled of Kylo so strongly that it made her head swim.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo hovered behind her, keeping back no more than a place as Rey explored the cave. There was a pile of furs tucked together on one side and Rey walked over to it. The scent made her head swim. How did he have so many? How did he CARRY them all? Rey opened her mouth, the scent flooding to the roof of it nearly knocking her to her knees. She ran a hand over one of the furs and whimpered.</p><p> </p><p>They were so SOFT.</p><p> </p><p>Instantly, all of the scents on her clothes felt overpowering and horrible. She stood, hissing at the faint scent of her herd, of Finn, who had slept back to back with her last night, of the forest, of every alpha that she'd met that day. They'd all turned sour. Rey tore haphazardly at the leather ties of her shoes, kicking them away, even though the stone floor of the cave felt excruciatingly cold against her bare feet. She yanked her tunic over her head, panting, and knocked two of her buns loose, but didn't care. she shook her hair out of her face and froze when she heard a low rumble behind her.</p><p> </p><p>Kylo was staring at her, mouth slightly open. Rey was sure her scent was as overwhelming as his was to her, but she couldn't form a sentence. Her thoughts had disappeared, focusing entirely around the furs at her feet. She crouched, burrowing in them and yanking them around them. She giggled as the soft material enveloped her. </p><p> </p><p>"You like them?" Kylo asked, crossing over to her. </p><p> </p><p>"This is the best thing ever," Rey said. She rolled onto her back to look up at him. His tunic was gone and his bare chest was twice as wide as her. </p><p> </p><p>"Good," Kylo said. He braced his arms on either side of her, leaning down and lowering his face to hers. Rey decided she wasn't going to wait and pushed up on her elbows, one hand flying to his dark hair. They barely missed smashing their noses or foreheads together, but she didn't much care. </p><p> </p><p>Because the best alpha in that entire pack was kissing her and she was wrapped in the best furs and smelled the best. Kylo's mouth was soft and his hands were rough against her face. It was a perfect balance: soft furs wrapping her entire body and soft lips sliding against hers contrasting with a hot, expansive chest hovering over her and rough hands curled tightly in her hair. </p><p> </p><p>"I was so afraid you'd choose someone else," Kylo whispered against the skin under her ear.</p><p> </p><p>"There was no one else to choose," Rey promised. She yanked the furs off of her, throwing them over his shoulder. She felt his grin against her neck. Instinctively, she knew this was what he'd been waiting for. She'd chosen his den and his bed then welcomed him into it. He would have stood waiting or crouched near her for her entire heat if she asked him to, but she wanted him here. </p><p> </p><p>So, here he was. </p><p> </p><p>His mouth was soft on hers, lips and tongue sliding against her with a practiced air. She kissed back on instinct alone, but he didn’t seem to mind. Distantly, however, the worry that he <em>would</em> mind broke through the haze. Rey stopped, pressing both hands to Kylo Ren’s chest. Kylo sat up immediately, looking down at her with intense dark eyes. </p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know what to do,” she said.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve never…” Kylo trailed off, “you have no idea ‘what to do about’ what exactly?”</p><p> </p><p>“All of it. Kissing, sex, mating, but also courting and- and the snuggling- and I might not be what you’re used to.”</p><p> </p><p>“Every omega is unique. You’re all independent people. This isn’t my first time, but you don’t have to worry about disappointing me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay okay okay.”</p><p> </p><p>“Rey,” Kylo’s hand is hot under her chin. </p><p> </p><p>Ugh. She’s so cold off of a sudden. Rey leaned forward again, seeking the warmth radiating off of Kylo. Kylo’s hand is insistent, holding both her chin and her attention, “Rey, don’t worry. Everyone has to have a first time. I’ll take care of you, okay?” </p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” Rey said. </p><p> </p><p>After staring into her eyes for only another moment, Kylo lowered his lips to meet hers, smiling at the tiny sigh she couldn’t hold back before he kissed her again. </p><p> </p><p>Kylo Snoke Ren was attentive and thoughtful. Heat tended to make Rey needy, but Kylo took it in stride. He kept her wrapped in furs and full of either a collection of dried meats, fruits, and nuts, or him. The first afternoon was a haze of sex, interspersed with breaks where Kylo sat and made her drink water from a tanned waterskin. </p><p> </p><p>That night, Rey slept soundly, buried under furs that smelled like Kylo.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 4: Cave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 4: Cave</strong>
</p><p>"While one of the most popular theories for the appearance of bonding glands in alphas is the Fertile Beta Theory, there are significant flaws to that idea (Hansen &amp; Jones-Pritchard, 1996, Kenobi, 1996). A fertile beta would likely have remained with a single herd and therefore would have been unlikely to produce the significant number of offspring that would be required for a gland to be present in all alphas today (Rinne, 1978). The relatively fast speed at which glands begin to appear in alpha skeletons beginning at around 30,000 BC suggests that the origin of glands in alphas either came from multiple sources within the same 10,000 year span or from a very prolific source (Kenobi, 1992). The likelihood of a multiple fertile betas, which has never been recorded, appearing in such a close time period is dubious at best."<br/>
Kenobi, Benjamin. "An Analysis of the Potential Alpha Gland Development Paths." <em>Journal of the Royal Society of Anthropology</em>, vol. 90, 1998, pp. 1-22.</p><p>Rey woke wrapped under heavy furs. She stretched, her arms and hands sliding against the furs. Her hands met cold air outside of the nest and winced, yanking her arm back. She looked around, sniffing for Kylo. </p><p>	“I’m here,” he called, “Do you want something to eat?” </p><p>	Rey nodded, burying her face in the fur more. She didn’t open her eyes, even as Kylo’s footsteps passed her and she suddenly smelled a fire. She finally opened her eyes and sat up slightly. </p><p>	Rey looked to her other side and saw him prodding a small fire back awake. He’d just wrapped himself in a large fur while he hunched over the fire, but didn’t seem too uncomfortable. Rey watched him enviously. The idea of walking around naked except for a fur cloak sounded horrifying. She was only comfortable now because his body heat was still insulated by the pile of furs. Kylo looked at her and smiled, then looked down at the fire again. His long hair was falling into his face in earnest now. </p><p>	When Rey looked into the fire, she saw some small shapes hanging over the little flames. She squinted and sniffed as Kylo bent over the food. Rey looked away from the fire and back to him, “did you go out and catch these?”</p><p>	“No, they wandered in and I was awake and I just swatted at them,” Kylo said. He lifted his chin and shook his head, trying to get his dark hair out of his face as he kept his attention on the small rodents.</p><p>	Without thinking, Rey stood up and walked over to him, forgetting even the cold, and pulled his dark hair back. He sniffed dismissively at the attention, but Rey saw the way the corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile as she tied one of her leather strands around the bundle. </p><p>	“How long did I sleep?” Rey asked, smoothing the last few strands of dark hair behind his ear. </p><p>	“A while,” Kylo said. He yawned, then blinked rapidly before turning back to the fire, “I don’t know if you remember, but you woke up in the middle of the night.”</p><p>	His voice was casual, but Rey could see by his widening smirk that she didn’t just roll over and go back to sleep. Face warming so much it almost stung against the too cold air of the cave, Rey mumbled, “I don’t remember that. What did I want?”</p><p>	“Me,” Kylo said, chuckling.</p><p>	Part of Rey wanted to curl up and die from embarrassment, but most of her felt more or less untouched by information that should have been humiliating. She was in heat, how was she supposed to act right now?</p><p>	“How are you?” Rey asked. She set next to Kylo on a slight incline in the floor of the cave and curled inside his side. He automatically moved to open his arm and put the fur around her, but Rey nestled into his bare side and back, resting her cheek against his ribs and humming contentedly.</p><p>	Kylo hummed back, a low and soothing rumble in his chest that Rey felt against her cheek. He reached out, touching her knee and brushing two fingers lightly up and down her calf as he watched the rodents cook. He absently toyed with the soft hair on her legs as they sat in silence for a few moments, making small circles or spirals here and there on her skin.</p><p>	After a long and gentle silence, something in Kylo’s scent seemed to sour suddenly. There was a tingle of anxiety under the content and comfortable moment. He cheek still resting against his ribs, Rey asked, “What is it? Are you okay?”</p><p>	“How long are you going to need me, do you think?” Kylo asked far too casually.</p><p>	“Do you have somewhere to be?” Rey asked, she lifted her head and he looked down at her. She couldn’t understand exactly why he’d decided to ask that question, so she thought she’d attempt some humor. </p><p>	“No,” Kylo said, meeting her gaze but blushing all the same, “it’s always hard to let go at the end. Knowing how long I have lets me brace myself.” </p><p>	“Brace yourself?” </p><p>	"For when you go back home," Kylo said softly, turning his attention back to the fire. He didn't push her away. In fact, he seemed uncomfortable but still kept her under the warmth of the pelt he'd grabbed to check on the fire with.</p><p>"Does it hurt? When an omega leaves?" Rey asked, frowning.</p><p>"For everyone, I'm sure it hurts a little bit, but it's always been very difficult for me," Kylo explained. </p><p>“Is that- do all alphas get depressed after an omega leaves?” Rey asked.</p><p>	“I don’t think so,” Kylo admitted. He reached over his head to grab a water skin from where he’d put it earlier. He took a swig before passing it to Rey, “I’m- I’ve always gotten more attached to people, especially omegas, than my father’s other sons.”</p><p>	“That’s interesting,” Rey said.</p><p>	Kylo smiled slightly, then reached out and started toying with the ends of her hair.</p><p>	“You ever wonder why?” </p><p>	“I don’t know. Maybe it comes from not having a sibling.”</p><p>	“Wait, what?” It wasn't uncommon for only one child to survive the first days or weeks after they were born, but there was a way he said it that made Rey sit up and lean away from him to look at his face.</p><p>	“I was an only child. I never had one," Kylo's tone was casual and he shrugged like it was nothing, but Rey had never heard of this, even when she was with Leia's pack. Kaydel and Tallie had never even  mentioned the idea of having one baby. There were always two. </p><p>	“From birth?” </p><p>
  <em>Always</em>
</p><p>	“From birth.” </p><p>He had to be lying or was mistaken. Rey wasn't sure what had happened to his beta sibling, but she was sure he must have had one. Everyone did. </p><p>	“That’s… how often does that happen?”</p><p>	“I’m the only one I know of. Everyone I know of was born with a sibling that died, but I was always alone.”</p><p>	“Do you ever feel… sad about it? Like you’ve missed out?”</p><p>	“I think my mother did mope more than I did. She has an alpha that she’s destined to lose, but no beta who will stay with her.”</p><p>	“Did she have other children later?”</p><p>	“I’m the only one of her children to reach adulthood," Kylo whispered. He finally looked back at the fire, his voice low and sad. </p><p>	“I’m sorry," Rey whispered. As much as betas and a herd could help to protect children and keep them safe, the world was still deadly. </p><p>“I’m younger than most of them, so I don’t remember the loss much,” Kylo said. He leaned forward occasionally to turn the small rodents over in the flames. He looked at her thoughtfully, “you smell like the others, like your from the same herd, but you have a different accent, a different way of speaking from the rest of them. Why is that?”</p><p>	“I was born and spent my early years elsewhere,” Rey confessed. At the memory of the absolute terror of those first days alone, which felt almost unending, “we were set upon by someone and I ran until I found safety.” </p><p>	“That’s terrible,” Kylo murmured. His voice was soft, but it still vibrated against her cheek, which made her turn her face to press her lips against the skin of his ribs. She wasn’t sure why this was so comforting, but the sensation against the skin of her lips made her want to purr. </p><p>	Kylo didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he lifted his arm and brushed his fingers lightly over her back for several minutes until he finally wiggled his torso just enough to break the contact between them. Rey sat up, letting the fur fall away.</p><p>	“The food is ready,” Kylo explained. </p><p>	Rey nodded. She stretched her legs, but as soon as her skin made contact with the cold cave floor in earnest, she winced. The difference in temperature <em>hurt</em>.</p><p>	Immediately, she was engulfed in something warm and dark. Wiggling her head until she managed to poke it out of the top of the pelt Kylo had nearly smothered her in, she tried to spit strands of hair out of her mouth. </p><p>	“Better?” Kylo asked softly. His fingers jumped from her cheek to her arm over the outside of the pelt and back again.</p><p>	“Sure,” Rey said. </p><p>Was it helpful to be nearly crushed by a heavy wolf’s pelt? </p><p>Not exactly. </p><p>	However, the instant relief in Kylo’s face when he thought he’d made her comfortable was worth it.  </p><p>	“How about I go lay down?” Rey offered, “I’ll be under the furs. We can eat there. How does that sound?”</p><p>	“Okay,” Kylo said warily. He looked into her face for a long moment, then nodded. Rey slipped out from under the fur, then walked over to the bedding and dove underneath. She hummed at the warmth and the smell of the furs around her. Kylo chuckled warmly as she rolled onto her back to look up at him. </p><p>	“Here,” Rey reached out and pulled the pelt up for Kylo to climb in beside her. He smiled and passed her one of the skewered rodents, which she ate gratefully, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows.</p><p>	“How are you?” Kylo asked, chewing on his half-heartedly and watching her intently.</p><p>	“Good,” Rey said, “still cold, still very very interested in sex and cuddling, but otherwise good.”</p><p>	Kylo leaned over and pressed a kiss to an exposed patch of skin on her back before dragging the pelts back up to cover them both. Rey moaned in relief as the temperature around her increased. She’d been too preoccupied with the food to think about the ache on her back from where her skin met the air, but the difference was incredible.</p><p>	Kylo immediately leaned over and kissed her again, propping himself on his elbows and holding his food aloft so he didn’t drop it on their bedding.</p><p>	“What was that for?” Rey asked after several breathless seconds before they broke apart.</p><p>	Kylo’s dark eyes looked even darker, the pupil swallowing most of the iris, “you made that sound and I had to do something. I settled for kissing you because anything else would have made you drop your food and I didn’t want to see what happened if I did that.”</p><p>	“Good call,” Rey said, smirking. She took another bite of her rat, then added, “although, depending on what happens after the rat is finished, you may get to hear that even more.”</p><p>	Kylo grinned, his dark eyes half-lidded. At first, Rey assumed he was trying to be seductive or something, but then she saw the way his shoulder slumped a little as he supported himself. </p><p>	He was exhausted. </p><p>	Rey finished her food and tossed it away before rolling onto her back beside Kylo. Rey reached up and touched the edge of Kylo’s scar, “did you sleep at all last night?”</p><p>	“Some,” Kylo said, finishing his own food and tossing it to the far side of the cave beside hers. He leaned over, burying his nose in her hair and breathing deeply. He hummed contentedly and the sound rumbled in both her chest and hers. Rey reached up, wrapped her arms around his back. </p><p>	Kylo sighed.</p><p>	“You can sleep, now, if you want,” Rey whispered, “I’ll watch the cave and the fire.”</p><p>	“I’m fine.” Kylo mumbled.</p><p>	“You took care of me, I can take care of you for a little while.” </p><p>	Two days later, when Rey got back to the herd, she pulled Kaydel aside and asked about Kylo’s strange sleep pattern. Kaydel shrugged and smiled. Most alphas became borderline nocturnal when with an omega. Their instinctual need to watch kicked into some kind of overdrive. If their omega needed something of their was alpha who basically spent every night with her wide awake, but would turn around and spend his days with her, too. Rey found the idea very sweet.</p><p>True to his word, when Rey woke him up for more sex, he was immediately alert and attentive.</p><p>He talked, too. In the interim, between sex and eating and sleeping, they talked. He told her about the walking he’d done, hunting mammoth, and his life in his father’s pack. His father was Snoke himself, a powerful alpha with a long life.<br/>
It was strange that their last day was the most normal of the three. Rey woke late in the day with the clearest head she’d had in days, so they spent most of it eating and talking. Kylo even made hot water with stewed leaves, a drink he’d been taught by alphas he’d been around when he was small. Rey sipped from a small clay bowl thoughtfully. It wasn’t too bad, all things considered. She’d seen these leaves chewed to ease nausea, so the idea of brewing them for taste alone made sense, although it seemed a little later.</p><p>Although, when Rey thought about it, alphas probably had fewer occasions for nausea than omegas, who were frequently sick while pregnant.<br/>
Kylo was Kylo Snoke Ren. His father was the old alpha that Rey had seen leaning against a tree. Kylo was Snoke’s Ren’s second-youngest son. His youngest, an alpha named Colt, was staying with him to watch over him in the meantime. </p><p>Apparently Snoke Ren Agruk Clorr, son of Asajj Talzin Ikmel was a prodigious father, known throughout many herds for his unbroken line of six sons, all raised to adulthood without incident. Colt Snoke Ren would likely be his last, but he was an alpha known well enough that he'd taken most of his later sons before their predecessor was fully grown. </p><p>"What's he like, as a father?" Rey asked. In the back of her mind, she heard the words <em>what would you be like, as a father</em>. </p><p>"Too old for any alphas you might have," Kylo shot back over his cup of stewed leaves. "I didn't ask that. I asked what he was like for you." </p><p>"Hard, but effective," Kylo said, "he taught me to be strong. How to raise strong alphas."</p><p>“Where are you going after this?”</p><p>“My father wants to cross the big mountains one more time. He wants to take Colt there, too.”</p><p>	“What’s on the other side?” </p><p>	“A sea of needle trees,” Kylo said.</p><p>	“Like to the south? On the other side of the pass and into the basin? Past the sand and the sandstone?”</p><p>	“I- yes, but bigger. How do you know all of that? I know Leia. Her herd never crosses into the basin. They go along the sand sometimes, but never into the basin.”</p><p>	“I was raised in the basin,” Rey said.</p><p>	“By who?” </p><p>	“A lowskull,” Rey explained, “my herd is gone. I ran and a lowskull found me. He kept me safe until I was grown. Then I found Leia’s herd.”</p><p>	Kylo nodded, "what are lowskulls like?" </p><p>"Proud. Full of tradition," Rey said thoughtfully, "they have deep thoughts and know themselves and each other deeply " </p><p>	“What do you mean?” </p><p>	“They know each other by clan and reputation. They know places they’ve never been and what’s beyond it. Their language has words we don’t. Do you know they have a word for how nice you feel when you lie down to sleep at night? It took my years to get one to explain it to me.”</p><p>	“That’s a great word,” Kylo said. When he grinned, instead of his scar twisting and looking scary, it softened and made his whole face brighten.</p><p>"Is that why you'd never had sex before?" Kylo asked suddenly, "it was just the two of you?"</p><p>	"Yeah," Rey said, nodding, "I've had a few heats, but he's old and not exactly... attractive."</p><p>"I've never heard anything about lowskull courting rituals, but I don't think their gifts are as nice as ours," Kylo said, the corner of his mouth lifting.</p><p>"Oh, haven't you heard? Omegas like rocks from one of the same two caves you've lived in your entire life rather than trinkets collected over years of travel." </p><p>"Oh that would explain so much," Kylo said, shaking his head. Most of his hair stayed back, but a few strands came loose and fell next to his left ear. </p><p>"You always lose out on the omegas you want to lowskulls?" Rey shot back. She was holding gaze and it made her heart beat faster. Most of the time, she didn't do this, sit and talk and hold eye contact for long periods of time. It was borderline challenging in the herd and Unkar never seemed to have any patience for it, but this felt a little dangerous but for some other reason.</p><p>"Oh, yeah," Kylo's dark eyes were almost impossible to separate from his pupil, "in fact, when you came in with your gift, you'd just missed the omega who took my best gifts and wandered off with the most sour-smelling lowskull you've ever met." </p><p>Something turned over in Rey's stomach at the words 'my best gifts'. She knew he was kidding. It was obviously a joke. He probably had never seen a lowskull up close outside of a fight, but the insinuation, the <em>idea</em> that he could want another omega made her suddenly rise up on her knees and half-throw herself into his lap. The piece of wood her rat had been on clicked lightly on the stone as she tossed it aside and buried her hands in his hair. </p><p>For someone who'd never kissed anyone the day before, she was getting the hang of this kissing thing. At least, if Kylo's reaction, which was to groan and wrap his arms around her waist, was anything to go back. </p><p>"I am your best omega," Rey broke away to whisper in his ear.</p><p>Kylo groaned again, but managed to pant, "yes." </p><p>Rey's smile faltered as she looked down and saw something odd tucked into the juncture between his neck and shoulder. In omegas and betas, the area on the right shoulder, where the muscle met collarbone, held a gland under the surface of the muscle. It wasn't uncommon for members to sit and massage one another's shoulders. Rey wasn't sure <em>exactly</em> what it did besides make you feel safe and close with the people around you, but she knew it was powerful. Babies were prone to sucking on the area near them, sometimes to the point that Rey could see the dark stains on the skin of those caring for particularly needy babies. </p><p>But Alphas didn't have them.</p><p>Rey knew that. It wasn't mentioned, really, since it was a foregone conclusion, but she <em>knew</em> this to be true.</p><p>It was a tiny piece of information that was just as constant and the northern stars. </p><p>"So, you saw it?" Kylo said. His voice had a bitter edge to it that made Rey whine and want to bury her face in his chest.</p><p>"You have a gland," Rey said. It wasn't a question. He did. She was staring at it. </p><p>"I've always had it. From birth. At first, everyone assumed I was a beta. My mother wondered if she'd somehow lost an omega or an alpha without noticing it and I was just so determined to be with her forever that I'd stayed inside her, with her. But then my scent developed and by the end of my first year, I was just an alpha with a strange gland." </p><p>"Have you ever heard of this happening?"</p><p>"To anyone else? No."</p><p>"Does it work?"</p><p>"Yes- don't <em>poke it</em>!" Kylo clapped a hand over the place, laughing and holding her with one arm.</p><p>	“Sorry sorry!” Rey said, “I didn’t mean to- it’s just so strange.”</p><p>	“I guess it is,” Kylo said. He looked up into her face for a moment, thoughtful.</p><p>	“Have you met anyone like you? Another alpha with a gland there?”</p><p>	“No,” Kylo said. He pressed his lips together, “I… I’ve gone back to see omegas I’ve met, but none of theri children have been alphas. I’ve never seen any like me among any packs or herds.”</p><p>	“I’m sorry,” Rey said, “that must be lonely.”</p><p>	“It is, but I have my family, my pack. If I ever find anyone like me, well, I’ll be able to reach out and to try and be his father down the road.” </p><p>	“You’re looking forward to being a father?” Rey asked.</p><p>	“Definitely,” Kylo said.</p><p>	“Do you know any omegas you’re going to seek out?”</p><p>	“Some. One or two,” Kylo said, the corner of his mouth lifting. </p><p>	<em>oh,</em> Rey thought, <em>oh…</em> She knew she should say something, but she couldn’t formulate any more of a clear thought. </p><p>	“You have a response to that, Rey?” Kylo asked teasingly.</p><p>	Rey slid her left hand into his hair, then curled her fingers into a fist before bringing him back to her, kissing him. </p><p>Every omega in the herd had warned Rey that time was going to be strange during her heat. Distantly, Rey had expected for the amount of time she spent sleeping to be what they meant. Four days seemed like a long time, but when she spent hours and hours sleeping against Kylo or under furs while he kept watched or  to him, even, it would be shorter.</p><p>But no. </p><p>Time seemed to be rushing out of her hands faster than she could wrap her mind around it. They’d move from sex to sleep to eating to talking back to sleeping back to eating back to sex back to talking back to eating and in an endless cycle that Kylo seemed to understand implicitly without her ever having to ask anything. </p><p>Before she knew it, she was watching the sky outside the cave grow darker and darker on the fourth day with Kylo. Distantly, she could tell that she was less needy and sexually desperate. Despite all of this, however, she found herself no less drawn to Kylo. She didn’t want to grab him and drag him back to the nest every time he got up, but she still wanted to listen to his voice, to smell him, to run her fingers through his hair and to have him hold her. </p><p>As the sunset in earnest, Rey could tell they both knew they’d need to part tomorrow. In all honesty, she probably could have gone back to the herd today, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave, not just yet. Instead she contented herself with one more night in this secret place, removed from the world. </p><p>Rey ran a hand up and down Kylo’s forearm. It was like a spearshaft across her chest. She loved it to the point where she resisted the urge to purr. After a few heartbeats though, she thought absently about some of the stories she'd heard the older betas and omegas swapping stories about sexual exploits. She hadn't done any of the things they'd described, though. She sighed, her face going hot at the thought. He'd made everything about her so far and didn't seem unhappy, but if she was wrong?<br/>
Kylo started brushing his fingers through her hair, which sent shivers down her spine. She leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his chest, a soft purr in her chest. Kylo hummed contentedly, letting Rey doze against him.</p><p>	“Do you want me to do… anything?” Rey asked, her eyelids almost impossibly heavy.</p><p>	“No, I’m happy,” Kylo promised. </p><p>	“Are you sure?” Rey mumbled.</p><p>	“Very,” Kylo’s voice was a low hum against her back and across her ear. It made it so much harder to stay awake, especially since he was so warm and the pressure of his body against hers made all the aches in her muscles ease, “I’m very happy.” </p><p>	The last thing Rey felt before she fell asleep was a kiss against the top of her hair. </p><p> </p><p>	Rey woke and immediately realized something was different. She'd spent her time sleeping under several furs, tucked as close as she could get to Kylo. Today, she had to roll all the way over to see him. She could see 3 furs that she'd kicked off in the night. Well, the end to her obsessive search for heat and sex meant it was time for her to go back to her herd and for him to find his pack. Rey shoved the disappointment in her chest as far as she could. She wasn’t going to waste her last work-free morning feeling sorry for herself. Rey slithered closer to him, shoving aside a pelt that had fallen between them and pressing herself against him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, a soft mockery of their position the night before. </p><p>	Rey let her cheek rest against his bare back and shivered with the sheer pleasure of so much . </p><p>“Good morning,” Kylo said, his voice rumbling against her. </p><p>	“Hi,” Rey whispered. Immediately, she cursed herself for the way her voice choked off. She screwed up her face and pulled away, but Kylo was instantly on her, one hand wrapped around her and the other brushing her tears away, “no no don’t cry, it’s okay. It’s okay.” </p><p>	“Why am I so- why am I crying? I should be happy to go back to my herd!” Rey choked sitting up and swiping angrily at her eyes.</p><p>“Mating is emotional. Heats get emotional. You’re not the first to get upset about a separation like this. It’s okay.”</p><p>“Really?” Rey asked.</p><p>Kylo nodded, “I cried for I can’t tell you how long after an omega left me for the first time.” </p><p>	Rey nodded. She sighed, looking over at the fire that had burned out.</p><p>	Kylo smiled tightly as he followed her gaze, “perfect timing.” His voice was flat.</p><p>	Rey clambered into his lap, not caring that she could have unseated him. He didn’t even flinch. Instead, he slipped his arms around her, pressing his arms against her back. The warmth seeped into her skin and she purred. She knew she would need to get up, but she also knew that if she let go of him, it would have to be for good. When she let him go, she needed to let him go for good. </p><p>	“We can split the last of the meat for the walks back,” Kylo promised in her ear, tilting his head to rest his temple against her cheek, “I’ll have to stay and clear out, but you can go.”</p><p>“Are you sure?” </p><p>	“Yes,” Kylo swallowed, “it’s- it’s easier if I can clean up with just me. I might get one of the kids to come back and help. It’ll be a time to show them what a good den looks like.”</p><p>	Rey smiled. He was technically only an older brother, but she  he’d be a good father. Bracing herself for the inevitable, she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair one more time, murmuring, “find me one day.” in his ear.</p><p>“Yes,” Kylo promised. </p><p>	With pain it should not have caused, Rey stepped away from him. She found her clothes across the cave where she’d taken them off four days earlier and inspected the knife and fur he’d gifted her, “these really are wonderful.”</p><p>	“They were for you,” Kylo said, shrugging helplessly. He sat in place, watching her shake her clothes out before she put them back on. Rey pulled her wrap and furs back on. As she did so, she could hear the rustle of fabric on skin as Kylo dressed, too. Rey forced herself not to watch him as she pulled on her leggings. She sat down and laced her shoes up, but only then did she allow herself to look at Kylo, who was dressed and standing by the now-cold fire. Finally, he pulled his furs over his shoulder. He walked over to her and leaned down, rubbing his wrists behind her ears in another strange attempt to scent her. Rey, despite the oddness of the moment, hummed, closing her eyes. </p><p>Whatever she was doing, it reminded her of when the larger betas would nuzzle a child who fell or hurt themselves. The movements were different, but whatever this alphas was doing smelled like comfort.</p><p>It smelled like love, but as she stood up, grabbed her knife and her fur and walked to the entrance of the cave, she didn’t let herself linger on that idea. </p><p>“Goodbye, Rey Niima.” </p><p>	Rey turned and looked over her shoulder at the beautiful, scarred face she desperately wanted to see again. </p><p>“Goodbye, Kylo Snoke Ren.” </p><p>
  <strong>End of Part One</strong>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, this is the end of part 1. I'm going to write all of part 2 and then post them close together as I go</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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